XV111 
INTRODUCTION. 
most of these Bandicoots, as they are called, and an account of the manners, habits, and economy of each, 
so far as known, will he found in their proper places in the body of the work. 
The Phascogales, of which there are three, namely P. penicillata, P. calura, and P. lam g era, are all 
natives of the southern portions of Australia, from east to west ; they are, however, rather denizens of the 
interior than of the provinces near the coast, but the P. penicillata is alike found in both. Their dentition 
indicates that they are sanguinary in their disposition, — a character which is confirmed by the P. penicillata , 
small as it comparatively is, being charged with killing fowls and other birds. 
It might be thought that the Phascogales would naturally lead to the Antechini, but there is no real affinity 
between the two groups. I find it most difficult to arrange the Australian mammals in anything like a serial 
order ; hut the numerous species forming the genera Antechinus and Podabrus are, perhaps, as well placed 
here as elsewhere. Like the Peramelides , the members of those genera inhabit every part of Australia and 
the adjacent islands : the thick-tailed species, forming the genus Podabrus , frequent the interior rather than 
the coast ; the Antechini , on the other hand, inhabit both districts ; and wherever there are trees and shrubs, 
one or other of them may be found ; some evince a partiality for the fallen boles lying on the ground, while 
others run over the branches of those that are still standing. 
I now approach a better-defined section of the Australian Marsupiata than any of the preceding — the 
nocturnal Phalangers. These are divided into several genera — Phascolarctos, Petaurista, Belideus, Phalan- 
gista, Cuscus, Acrobates, and Dromicia. The extraordinary Koala is only found in the brushes of New 
South Wales. It stands quite alone — the solitary species of its genus, and it is well worth while to turn to 
my figures and description of this anomalous Sloth among the Marsupials. The Petauristce are strictly 
brush-loving animals, and are almost entirely confined to New South Wales ; some one or other of the 
Belidei, on the other hand, is found in all other parts of the Australian continent (except perhaps its 
western portion), wherever there are Eucalypti of sufficient magnitude for their branches to become hollow 
spouts wherein these nocturnes may sleep during the day. This form also occurs among the animals of the 
New Guinea group of islands. The little Opossum Mouse, Acrobates pygmeeus , is a general favourite with 
the colonists ; and well it may be so, for in its disposition it is as amiable as its form is elegant and its fur 
soft and beautiful: what the Dormouse is to the English boy, this little animal is to the juveniles of 
Australia. I have seen it kept as a pet, and its usual retreat in the day, while it sleeps, was a pill-box ; as 
night approaches it becomes active, and then displays much elegance in its motions. The true Phalangistoe 
comprise many species ; and are found in every colony, in Port Essington on the north, Swan River on the 
west, New South Wales and Queensland on the east, and Victoria and Van Diemen’s Land on the south. 
They lead to the genus Cuscus, a form better represented in New Guinea and its islands than in Australia, 
where only one species has been discovered, in the neighbourhood of Cape York. Of the two fairy-like 
Dromicice, which live upon the stamens of flowers and the nectar of their corollas, one is found in Van 
Diemen’s Land, the other in Western Australia. The description of a third species of this form has just 
been transmitted to the Zoological Society by Mr. Krefft, who states that it was taken from an example 
discovered by himself in New South Wales, and proposes to call it D. unicolor. 
An equally remarkable and distinct division or group is composed of the Dasyures, to which the extra- 
