FOOD OF PHALANGERS 
¢ 
give vent to a “groan.” In captivity it is as a rule 
amiable, the amiability being possibly associated with 
stupidity. Sir Everard Home, however, the famous 
surgeon and anatomist of the end of the eighteenth 
and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, thought the 
wombat not unintelligent though he agreed from per- 
sonal observation as to its amiability. 
THE VULPINE PHALANGER 
The vulpine phalanger is not especially fox-like 
in aspect though it has somewhat of the sharp-snouted 
eagerness of that animal, toned down, however, by 
marsupial stupidity. Zvichosurus vulpecula (between 
this name and Phalangista vulpina choice may be 
made) has departed considerably from, or rather has 
not nearly arrived at, the kangaroo type of structure. 
Still there are numerous facts which show it to be allied 
to the kangaroos. For instance the second and third 
toes are bound together in a common integument as in 
the leaping and long-tailed Diprotodont ; and it has 
the same strong lower incisors which, however, it is 
alleged, do not meet and move upon each other in the 
scissors-like way that has been recorded in the grazing - 
kangaroos. Tvichosurus, in fact, is purely arboreal, 
though it will at times descend to the ground; on 
these occasions it walks in a flat-footed and archaic 
way. It is, however, most suited to a life in trees, and 
it has as an aid to effective climbing, a prehensile 
tail, so common a feature in tree-dwelling animals. It 
chiefly affects the blue gum tree of its native Australia 
and eats the leaves and shoots of that tree, occasionally 
varying its diet, as is the way with many vegetable- 
feeding animals marsupial and otherwise, with animal 
food. In captivity small birds are enjoyed by it. It 
is often called “‘ opossum,” but it has of course nothing 
to do with the opossums of North and South America, 
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