298 
PH A LAN G1STA OANINA. 
The jn'esent section contains but two well determined 
species, and these are distinguishable from the species of the 
preceding section by their having the tail clothed with 
comparatively short hairs, the toes of tlie fore-foot being 
nearly equal in length, and divided, the inner two from the 
outer three, so as to be, to a certain extent, opposable to them. 
The second and third toes of the hind feet are not only united 
to the extremity (or very nearly so), but the latter toe is 
united to the fourth for about one-lialf its length. The inner 
toe, or thumb, is longer than in P. vulpina , extending, when 
directed forwards, very nearly to the extremities of the second 
and third toes, whilst in P. vulpina the thumb terminates on 
a line with the base of the same toes, and in this last men¬ 
tioned animal the third toe is scarcely joined to the fourth. 
The very broad and short ears form another distinction for 
the present section, and lastly may be noticed the difference 
in the molar teeth. The dental formula in P, Cookii (the 
type of the section) is, incisors, l; canines, — ; premolars, 
3_ 3 i i 
—; true molars, —=88. Of the premolars enumerated, 
there are ^ which are small and unimportant, but the second 
of the three upper premolars is a well-developed tooth, and 
is contiguous with the third, which corresponds to the tooth 
which I have called the principal premulur. The incisor 
teeth are proportionately smaller than in P. vulpina , and the 
foremost pair of the upper scries are but little larger than 
the others. 
Ogilby. The name 7Yic/io*urus was orginally used by M. Lesson to dis¬ 
tinguish the Australian Plialangers, having hairy tails, from the naked-tailed 
species of the Indian Islands, and consequently includes, besides the P. Cookii , 
the P. vulpina and-I*, riant]. — See Dictionnaire Classique d’Hist. Nat. tom. xiii. 
p. 333, 1829. As P. Cookii and /*. nana have since been made the types of 
new genera, or subgenern, we must restrict Lesson’s sectional name to the 
Phalaugers of which P. vulpina is the type. 
