(352 
TAUSIPES K03TUATUS. 
brought me four specimens; one of these, a female, I kept 
alive for several months, and it became so tame as to allow 
itself to be caressed in the hand without evincing any fear, or 
making any attempt to escape. It is strictly nocturnal, 
sleeping during the greater part of the day, and becoming ex¬ 
ceedingly active at night: when intent upon catching flies, 
it would sit quietly in one corner of its cage, eagerly watching 
their movements, as, attracted by the sugar, they flew around; 
and when a fly was fairly within its reach, it bounded as quick 
as lightning, and seized it with unerring aim, then retired to 
the bottom of the cage, and devoured it at leisure, sitting 
tolerably erect and holding the fly between its fore-paws, and 
always rejecting the head, wings, and legs. The artificial 
food given it was sopped bread, made very sweet with sugar, 
into which it inserted its long tongue, precisely in the way in 
which the Honeyeatcrs among birds do theirs into the flower- 
cups for honey; every morning the sop was completely honey¬ 
combed, as it were, from the moisture having been drained from 
it by the repeated insertion of the tongue : a little moistened 
sugar on the end of the finger would attract it from one part 
of the cage to the other; and by tliis means an opportunity 
may be readily obtained for observing the beautiful prehensile 
structure of the tongue, which I have frequently seen pro¬ 
truded for nearly an inch beyond the nose; the edges of the 
tongue near the tip are slightly serrated. The tail is prehen¬ 
sile, and is used when the animal is climbing, precisely like 
that of the Hepoona ( PJialangista ). The eyes, although 
small, are exceedingly prominent, and placed very near to 
each other ; the ears are generally quite erect. When 
sleeping, the animal rests upon the lower part of the hack, 
with its long nose bent down between its fore feet, and its tail 
brought over all, and turned down the back. Mr. Johnson 
Drummond shot a pair in the act of sucking the honey 
from the blossoms of the Melaleuca ; he watched them 
