329 
YELLOW-BELLIED FLYING-PHALANGEH. 
The naked portions of the hand and feet, in the living animal, 
are of a yellowish flesh colour, and the naked tip to the nose 
is of a pale pink hue. In the third column I have given the 
dimensions of a specimen taken immediately after death. It 
lived for some time in the Gardens of the Zoological Society. 
The dimensions in the other two columns are taken from stuffed 
specimens:— 
Length from tip of nose to root of tail 
Ins. Lns. 
14 0 
Ins. Lns. 
14 0 
Ins. Lns. 
12 0 
“ of tail. 
19 0 
18 0 
15 6 1 
“ of ear ... . 
1 9 
1 9 
1 11 
“ of fore foot, including ] the 
nails ... 
1 6 
1 7 
1 6i 
“ of hind foot and nails 
1 7 £ 
i n 
1 8 
Mr. Gould furnishes us with the following interesting 
account of the habits of the present species. u The Yellow- 
bellied, or Long-tailed Flying-Phalanger,” this gentleman 
observes, “ is common in all the brashes of New South Wales, 
particularly those which stretch along the coast from Port 
Philip to Moreton Bay. In these vast forests, trees of one 
kind or another are perpetually flowering, and thus offer a 
never failing supply of blossoms, upon which the Yellow- 
bellied Flying-Phalanger feeds: the flowers of the various 
kinds of gums, some of which are of great magnitude, are 
the principal favourites. Like the rest of the genus, it is 
nocturnal in its habits, dwelling in holes of trees and in the 
hollows of the larger branches during the day, and displaying 
the greatest activity at night, while running over the small 
leafy branches, frequently even to their very extremities, in 
search of insects, and the honey of the newly-opened blos¬ 
soms. Its structure being ill adapted for terrestrial habits, it 
seldom descends to the ground, except for the purpose of 
1 Without including the fur. 
