THE VULPINE PHALANGEU. 
289 
Zoological Society, and was supposed to be from Sydney, but 
though numerous specimens of Phalangers of similar colour¬ 
ing and proportions have recently been forwarded to England 
from Van Diemens Land, no such animal, to our knowledge, 
lias been sent from Sydney, nor, indeed, from any part of the 
main land. 
The following description is taken from the specimen just 
referred to. 
Ears long, and pointed; tail very bushy, and equal to the 
body in length. Fur very long, loose, and moderately soft to 
the touch; its general colour almost black, especially on the 
back of the animal; but on the sides of the body a rich 
brown hue is perceptible; and the throat, chest, and under 
parts, are of a rich brownish fulvous hue, rather deeper on 
the abdomen than elsewhere. The fur on the back is pale 
brown next the skin ; each hair assumes a deeper hue towards 
the point, and the visible portions of the hairs are black; on 
the sides of the body there is less of the black at the points 
of the hairs, the brown below the points is of a richer hue, 
and is visible; here, moreover, the hairs are many of them 
annulated, near the point, with rusty yellow, especially towards 
the shoulders: the chin and muzzle are almost entirely black, 
as well as the back of the ears, the feet, mid the tail. The care 
are naked internally, or nearly so; externally they are well 
clothed with fur, excepting near the point and along the 
anterior margin, which parts are covered only with small 
adpressed hairs, as in P. vttljrina. About six inches of the 
apical portion of the tail beneath is naked. 
The dimensions in the second column (p. 291) are from an 
animal, in the collection of the British Museum, which agrees 
with the above description; it is from Van Diemens Land, 
as is also the animal whose dimensions are given in the third 
column. This latter specimen differs from the former in being of 
a light grey tint, and, indeed, its colouring corresponds perfectly 
VOL. I. it 
