470 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
FLYING ARIEL. 
impression as a bushy, little puppy, whose furzy ears would occupy one’s 
attention but for the quizzical expression of its face. It is specially interesting 
to the naturalist because it seems to be a connecting link between the 
opossuip, the kangaroo, the bear and the sloth. n . A 
The Spotted Cuscus (Cuscus maculatus ) is found m New Guinea, and on 
the Molucca Islands, but not else¬ 
where in the same sea. It is 
hunted alike for the table and for 
its fur, which is generally some 
shade of white, with black spots 
arranged as if forming a regular 
pattern. It is arboreal, and nature 
seems to have gifted its tail with 
such tenacity as to avoid any occa¬ 
sion for conferring locomotive power 
on its feet. It is another of the 
animals which will “play possum,” 
and as it will never move while 
conscious of observation, children 
sometimes capture it by wearing 
out the muscles even of so pre¬ 
hensile a tail, for the children will 
sit and watch the animal until its 
muscular force is exhausted; 
naturally the natives would find 
more expeditious ways of bagging their game. 
The Great Flying Phalanger (Petaurus australis , or flaviventer, ) belongs to 
the family which is supplied 
with a parachute. and a prehen¬ 
sile tail. Its color is so variable 
that a description given from 
one animal might be contra¬ 
dicted by the next specimen 
subjected to examination. The 
species called Sugar Squirrel 
(Petaurus , or Belideus sciureus ,) 
possibly because it is no squirrel 
at all, is very beautiful as an 
illustration of what an animal 
Beau Brummel can achieve in 
the combination of furs. It is 
nocturnal, arboreal, and makes 
nothing of a flight of thirty or 
forty feet when exercising as a 
performer on the trapeze. It is 
playful, gregarious and not unable to endure captivity. Its fur is a soft brownish- 
gray, the under parts whitish, a broad black stripe down the spine, and a tail 
whose length and thickness ought to satisfy the most exacting wearer of fur. 
The Ariel Flying Petaurus ( Petaurus arid ) is so graceful in its progress 
Tasmanian wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus ). 
