TIIE VULPINE PHALANGEIt. 
293 
regretted that our collections do not contain well-authenti¬ 
cated skulls of P. vulpina from New South Wales. 
A series of specimens of the Plmlangors under consideration, 
accompanied with their skulls, both from New South Wales 
and from Van Diemen’s Land, is required to enable us to 
determine, in a satisfactory manner, whether the animals 
called vulpina and fuliyinosa are. specifically identical. The 
evidence which I have been able to collect leads me to believe 
they are, and that wo must attribute the difference of size 
(which is but little), and the great tendency to variation in 
colouring, on the part of the Van Diemen's Land animal, to 
local causes—such as food and climate. 
Phalanyista Cutieri. Gray. 
I formerly thought, with Mr. Gray, that a certain specimen 
of Phnlnngistn, to which that gentleman gave the name 
Curicri, was specifically identical with the Phalanger de 
Cook of Geoffrey and F. Cuvier, and distinct from other 
species; hut upon re-examination of the specimen in ques¬ 
tion I have changed that opinion, so far as relates to its 
being a distinct species. .It may be identical with the “ Pha¬ 
langer de Cook," hut I suspect that that animal will prove to 
be the P. vulpina of the Continent of Australia, whilst the 
P. Curicri, I think, should decidedly he associated with the 
island variety, or species, whichever it may be—the P.fuli- 
rjinom, P. Cuvicri, differing from P. - vulpina in having 
the feet larger, as well ns the upper incisor teeth, and in those 
parts agreeing perfectly with the P. fuliyinosa, from the grey 
specimens of which it ditiers only in being paler, and in 
having the tail less bushy; but, with respect to these dif¬ 
ferences, I must observe that the animal had lived in confine¬ 
ment for some time previous to its death, and when it died it 
