THE VULPINE PIIALANGER. 285 
The Vulpine Phalanger is about equal in size to the 
Common Cat; its cars are long, anil somewhat pointed; the 
tail is about equal to the body in length. The fur is long, 
loose, and moderately soft to the touch ; its general colour is 
grey, the visible portions of the lmirs being partly black and 
partly white; on the back the fur assumes a somewhat deeper 
hue than on the sides of the body, owing to there being 
very long black hairs rather plentifully interspersed with the 
ordinary fur on that part. The muzzle and chin are blackish, 
but the former is pale near the tip, and the naked mufllo is 
of a whitish flesh colour. The eyes are encircled with 
blackish hairs; the ears arc almost naked within, and of a 
brownish pink colour, but there are a few scattered pale hairs 
on this part ; on the outer side, excepting near and at the 
point, and a narrow space along the anterior margin, they 
are clothed with a dense and moderately long fur, which 
is white at the posterior angle of the ear and towards the 
apex, but black elsewhere. The hairs of the moustaches 
are long, numerous, and black, and there are a few long, 
black, bristly hairs springing from above the eyes. The 
throat, as well as the whole under parts of the body and 
inner sides of the limbs, are of a pale bull-yellow tint, but 
on the chest is a large oblong patch of deep rust-coloured 
hairs. The feet are yellowish white, but more or less suffused 
with brown on the toes ; the posterior part, and the outer 
side of the hind feet, are often dusky ; the naked soles of the 
feet are flesh-coloured; the claws are dusky. The tail is 
clothed at the root with fur of the same texture and colour as 
that of the body ; beyond, the fur is more bushy, of a harsher 
nature, and black; the extreme point of the tail, and the 
under surface of about the apical half, are naked. The 
region of the pouch of the female (as is very generally the 
case in the Marsupial animals) is clothed with rusty red hairs. 
