496" 
PETAURINE OPOSSUM. 
Didelphis Petaurus. D. hypochondriis proUxis volitans, supra 
cinereo-nigricans ferrugineo tincta, suhtus albida, cauda longa 
suhtereti villosissima. 
Blackish-grey Opossum, tinged with ferruginous ; whitish be- 
neath ; with lateral flying membrane, and long, subcylindric, 
very villose tail. 
Hepoona Roo. White'* s Journal, p. 2^^. 
The Southern Petaurus. NaturalMs Miscellany , pi. 60. 
The size, colours, and fonii, of the Petaurine or 
great flying Opossum of New Holland, conspire 
to render it one of the most beautiful of quadru- 
peds. It measures about twenty -two inches from 
the tip of the nose to the beginning of the tail, 
which is twenty inches in length. The body is 
about the size of a half-grown cat or a small rab- 
bet, and the general appearance of the animal is 
similar to that of a flying squirrel ; an expansile 
membrane, covered with fur, stretching from the 
fore legs to the hind on each side of the body, 
and thus enabling the animal to spring to a con- 
siderable distance at pleasure. 
The general colour of this species is a very fine 
sable, or deep grey-brown above, varied with a 
cast of ferruginous: beneath it is nearly white; a 
stripe of darker or blacker brown than the rest 
runs along the back from head to tail: the fur 
near the edge of the flying membrane on its up- 
per part has also a blacker or darker tinge than 
on the other parts, while the edge itself is white, 
thus forming a beautiful contrast of colour round 
