OEDEE OF MAESUPI ALS. 
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the Tarsipedes and Bandacoots. They are small marsupial animals, 
which have, especially the first, much analogy to the Phalangers. 
The Tarsipede is a pretty animal, hardly so large as a mouse ; 
! its muzzle is elongated, and in form like a beak ; and it feeds not 
only on insects, hut also on the nectar of flowers. 
The Bandacoots do not* live on trees ; they have strong nails, 
and dig themselves galleries into which they retire. Insects and 
roots form the staple of their food. The great toe of their hind 
Fig. 7. — Koala ( Phascolarctus cinereus). 
foot is not opposable. Indeed, they are more nearly analogous to 
the ordinary Insectiyora. The finest species of true Bandacoot 
(Perameles lagotis) is about the size of a wild Babbit, and bears the 
name of “native Babbit” amongst the colonists. There are eight 
or ten others, one of which (P. dor ey anus) inhabits Hew Guinea. 
Allied to them is a curious little animal of South Australia, known 
as the Pigfoot ( Chceropus castanotis). 
Family of Dasyures. — The Dasyures, true Carnivora of the 
Marsupial order, live but by slaughter and pillage. They have 
