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Show 128 MAMMALIA. forty-eight teeth. Their tail is hairy, and not prehensile. The great claws of their fore feet announce their habit of digging in the earth ; and the tolerable length of their hind ones, a swiftness of gait. P. nasutus, G., Ann. du Mus. IV. The muzzle much elon-gated ; ears pointed; fur a greyish brown. At the first glance it resembles a Tenrec.(l) The species belonging to the second subdivision of the Marsupialia have two broad and long incisors in the lower jaw with pointed and trenchant edges sloping forwards, and six corresponding ones in the upper jaw. Their superior canini are also long and pointed, but all their inferior ones consist of teeth so small that they are frequently hidden by the gum; they are sometimes altogether wanting in the lower jaw of the last subgenus. . Their regimen is chiefly frugivorous; consequently their intestines, the crecum particularly, are longer than in the Opossum. The thumb is very large in all of them, and so widely separated from the toes that it seems to slant backwards almost like that of Birds. It has no nail, and the two following toes are united by the skin as far as the last phalanx. It is from this circumstance that these animals have re· ceived the name of Phalangers.(2) I ' PHALANGIST A. PHALANGISTA, Cuv.-BALANTIA, Illig.(3) The true Phalangers have not the skin of the flank extended; four back molars in each jaw, with four points in two rows; in front a large one, conical and compressed, and between it and the superior canine two small and pointed ones, to which correspond the three ( 1) The Ptramele Bougainville of Quoy and Gaymard does not differ specifically from the nasutus. The Peram. obesula, Geoff. is not so authentic. (2) The name of Phalanger was given by Buffon to two individuals he had ob· served, on account of the union of the two toes of the foot. That of Phila~ is not, as might be thought, derived from the Greek, but from the Malay word fl. landor, which means Rabbit, applied by the inhabitants of Amboyna to a species of Kanguroo. Seba and Brisson have used it indiscriminately for all the pouched animals. The Phalangers, in the Moluccas, are called Couscous or Coussous. The earlier travellers not having properly distinguished them from the Sarigues, ga~e cause to believe that this last genus was common to the two continents. (3) Balantia, from B«Jo.~Y'TIOV, purse or pouch. . MARSUPIALIA. 129 very smalllow~r ones, of which we have just spoken. Their tail is always prehensile. The ta.i l in some of them is in a great measure 5 ca1Y · Th ey 11. ve on tre. es m the Moluccas, where they feed on Inse c t s an d f rul· t. At the s1ght of a man th• ey suspend themselves by tl1 e1' r t a1·1 ; an d 1' f he gaze at' fft hem steadily for some time' they fall th roug h 1a ss1· tude They dl use a very unpleasant odour notwithst d' h' thel·r· flesh is eaten. ' an mg w 1ch There .are several of them known, of various sizes and colours all of which are ex;nbraced under the Didelphis orientalis of Lin~ nreus. M. Temmmck thinks he can separate them into species as fo!lows: Pit .. ursina, T. (The Ursine Phalanger.) Nearly the size of the c1vet; fur close ' and of a bl ac· k1' s h -b rown · the !oung ones a fawn-coloured brown. From the woods of the Island of Macassar. Si;lt. /hrysorrltous, T. (The Golden-cruppered Phalanger.) eo a large Cat; fur of an ash brown; white beneath. a golden fawn colour on the croup. From the Moluccas. ' . v:lt. maculata, T.; ~uff. XIII, pl. ii; Voy. de Freycin. pl. vii; Y· du. ~upe:r· pl. lV. (The Spotted Phalanger.) Size of a Cat; whitish, Irregularly spotted or marbled with b o Plt ca ;r, T r wn. er · V7:J rons, ·; Buff. pl. x, the female; and Voy. de Du- Pl_rey, the male. (The Hollow-fronted Phalanger.) The male bw ute; the female fa wn co 1o ure d , w1· th a brown stripe along the ack. To these we must add A Pit. ~uoy, Voy. de Freycin. pl. vi. (The Quoy Phalanger.) greyish-brown ; a blackish-brown longitudinal band on the ~roup; top of the head a cinnamon-red ; cheeks throat and reastwh1te.(1) ' theI nt ao'tlh. erhs '.w h l·C h h ave h I· therto been found in New Holland only 1 Is a1ry to the tip. ' d'APhz.. vWuln.in a ,• fl,;•d . Ze murm· a an d vu'zP ~•n a, Shaw; Bruno of Vicq. t ''c hlte, Voy. 278. (The Fox-like Phalanger.) Size of a 8 out at • greyisl b 1 P1 ' .. l· rown, pa er beneath ; tail nearly all black. ft. Cookn Cook's I t V 1 ... ( Cook.) Les; tha C as b oy. p . vm. The Phalanger of a d fl n a at; rown above, white underneath. head nPl anks red; posterior third of the tail white. ' aS '·. Bougainvillii. (The Phalanger of Bougainvi1lc ) Size of riorq hualrlfr eol·' ash co. lou r ed a b ove, w 1u ·t e underneath; t·h e poste-r the tail black; posterior half ot the ear white.(2) [~)) A very distinct species. li.o n. A new species bro ugl 1 t t 0 F' ranee by M. de Bougainville ft•om his Jast expedi - Vot. I.-R |