1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `The Miner's Right,' p. 249:
"The cry of the night-bird, the rustle of the phalangers and the smaller marsupials, as they glided through the wiry frozen grass or climbed the clear stems of the eucalypti."
1891. `Guide to Zoological Gardens, Melbourne':
"A pair of the Short-headed Phalanger (<i>Belideus breviceps</i>) occupy the next division."
1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 75:
"The second great family of the herbivorous Diprotodont Marsupials is typically represented by the creatures properly known as phalangers, which the colonists of Australia persist in misnaming opossums. It includes however several other forms, such as the Flying-Phalangers [q.v.] and the Koala [q.v.]."
<hw>Phascolarctus</hw>, <i>n</i>. the scientific name of the genus of the <i>Koala</i> (q.v.) or <i>Native Bear</i>, of which there is only one species, <i>P. cinereus</i>. It is, of course, marsupial.(Grk. <i>phaskowlos</i>, a leather apron, and <i>'arktos</i>, a bear.) See <i>Bear</i>.
<hw>Phascologale</hw>, <i>n</i>. contracted often to <i>Phascogale</i>: the scientific name for the genus of little marsupials known as the <i>Kangaroo-Mouse</i> or <i>Pouched-Mouse</i> (q.v.). (Grk. <i>phaskowlos</i>, a leather apron, and <i>galae</i>, a weasel.) "The pretty little animals belonging to the genus thus designated, range over the whole of Australia and New Guinea, together with the adjacent islands and are completely arboreal and insectivorous in their habits. The [popular] name of <i>Pouched-Mouse</i> is far from being free from objection, yet, since the scientific names of neither this genus nor the genus <i>Sminthopsis</i> lend themselves readily for conversion into English, we are compelled to use the colonial designation as the vernacular names of both genera. . . . The largest of the thirteen known species does not exceed a Common Rat in size, while the majority are considerably smaller." (R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 166.)
1853. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 324:
"The phascogales are small insectivorous animals found on the mountains and in the dense forest-parts of the island, and little is known of their habits."