Phascolarctos.

P. cinereus. Koala, or Native Bear.

Only one species of this singular form is known, which inhabits the southern and eastern portions of Australia, and extends to the tropics.

Phalangista.

P. canina.

P. fuliginosa.

P. vulpina.

These three animals are varieties of the common Opossum. The first inhabits the Clarence River District, the second is found only in Tasmania, and the third is distributed generally over Australia. All have a brushy tail.

P. Cookii.

P. viverrina.

P. laniginosa.

The Ring-tailed Phalangers or Opossums are varieties of each other, and found in almost every part of Australia; the first occurs on the east coast; the second in the interior, on the south coast, and also in Tasmania; the third is a local variety of the Clarence River District. All these animals (Phalangers) are about the size of a half-grown cat; and they resemble in their dentition the great Flying Phalanger of the genus Petaurista.

Dromicia.

D. gliriformis.

D. concinna.

D. unicolor.

The Dromicias inhabit the southern portion of Australia and Tasmania. They are small Ring-tail Phalangers, and never grow larger than about the size of a common mouse. Little is known of these creatures, which are seldom captured; they live principally on honey and soft insects.

Cuscus.

C. brevicaudatus.

C. maculatus.

Inhabitants of North Australia, which are allied to the Phalangers proper; they appear to be rather more carnivorous than the rest, and both have been added only lately to the Australian fauna.

Dactylopsila.

D. trivirgata.

The habitat of this animal is also North Australia; it is a curious form connecting the Flying Phalangers with the genus Phalangista; the membrane between arms and legs is absent, but the tail has a feathery appearance, and resembles that of the little Acrobata; skull and dentition are like Belideus flaviventer; the size of the animal is about that of a common rat.

Petaurista.

P. taguanoides. Great Flying Phalanger.

A species closely allied to the Ring-tail Phalangers; the skulls of these two genera are much alike, their teeth also resemble each other. Habitat, East Australia; not found on the Plains of the interior, or on the West coast.

Belideus.

B. flaviventer.

B. sciureus.

B. breviceps.

Of these Flying Phalangers the first is the largest, and about the size of a cat, but less bulky; the other two are much smaller; they inhabit South and East Australia, and have not yet been recorded from the West coast. They are restricted to mountain districts, and not found on the Plains of the interior. B. notatus and

B. ariel are varieties of the B. breviceps.

Acrobata.

A. pygmæa.

The smallest of the tribe, less than a common mouse in size, and distinguished by a feathery tail. Habitat, the southern and eastern portions of Australia.

Tarsipes.

T. rostratus.

This little creature, with its almost toothless jaws, belongs certainly to the Phalanger family, and connects it with the Monotremata. The teeth are very diminutive and soon lost, except the canines, a few of the back teeth, and the lower incisors, which are very fine, straight, and almost horizontally inserted in the ramus. The tongue is rather long, covered with hair near the tip, enabling the animal to insert it into flowers and obtain their honey.