56 
The Queensland Naturalist. August, 1937. 
friends of the bush, and every effort should be made by 
naturalists to see that it is protected as far as possible. 
The black opossum of the scrubs, Trichosurus caninus 
nigrans, is not so frequently seen but is nevertheless very 
interesting. 
The eastern Australian ring-tail opossum, Pseudo- 
chirus laniginosus, also occurs frequently, and is recog- 
nised by its white tail' tip and its habit of making a large 
domed nest of leaves, etc., amongst the branches in the 
scrub trees. 
The dormouse opossum, Dromicia unicolor, Krofft, is 
a pygmy variety of opossum, having a head and body of 
only some three inches in length, and is found occasionally 
living in small hollow pipes in trees. 
There is also an even smaller pygmy flying phaianger, 
named Acrobates pygmaeus, Shaw, whose head and body 
is only about 2 inches in length and tail similar, the latter 
being feathered. 
Unfortunately these wonderful little creatures rarely 
live long in captivity, probably lacking either special food 
or company. 
The greater flying phaianger. Petauroides volans, is 
found in most forest country in South Queensland and 
New South Wales. Their screeches may be heard at night 
in places, such as “Binna Burra, ’ ’ where they have not 
been destroyed by civilisation 
The lesser flying phaianger or squirrel, Petaurus 
sciureus, is also to be found throughout this district. T re- 
cently saw one which a lady had kept as a pet for some 
years : it was particularly well nourished and had a won- 
derful coat. 
The large spotted tailed tiger cat, Dasyurus macu- 
latus, lives in the scrubs. I have the skull of one which 
T found dead on a main track in the park. The common 
spotted native cat is also common in all such unsettled 
districts; they live on birds, eggs, etc., and both species 
sometimes do much damage amongst poultry. 
Two other predatory dasyures, are to be found here 
namely, Phascogale penicillata and P. flavipes. The 
former, a specimen of which was shown last year at one 
of our meetings by Mrs. Curtis, is said to have also 
entered hen roosts for fowls The latter, yellow-footed 
species, has no brush on its tail. All this family are very 
active, and live in holes in the rock, or occasionally in tree 
hollows. 
The native bear or koala, Phascolarctus cinereus, mar 
rarely be found amongst the eucalypts. This is the great- 
est of our favourites amongst the Australian wild animals, 
and should be more plentiful in South Queensland, but T 
