THE SQUIRREL FLYING PHALANGER.[105]
This little creature, called the Sugar Squirrel by the colonists, is very generally dispersed over the whole of New South Wales, where, in common with other Phalangers, it inhabits the magnificent gum-trees. Mr. Gould states that it is nocturnal in its habits, and that it conceals itself during the day in the hollows of trees, where it early falls a prey to the natives, who capture it both for the sake of its flesh and skin, which latter, in some parts of the colony, they dispose of to the colonists, who occasionally apply it to the same purposes as those to which the fur of the Chinchilla and other animals is applied in Europe. At night it becomes extremely active in its motions. It prefers those forests which adorn the more open and grassy portions of the country rather than the thick brush near the coast. By expanding the membrane attached to the sides of its body it has the power of performing enormous leaps. They have the power of changing their course to a certain extent when descending, parachute-like, from a height. It is stated that a ship sailing off the coast had a Squirrel Petaurus on board which was permitted to roam at large. On one occasion it reached the mast-head, and as the sailor who was sent to bring it down approached, it made a spring from aloft to avoid him. At this moment the ship gave a lurch, which, if the original direction of the little creature’s course had been continued, must have plunged it in the sea. All who witnessed the scene were in pain for its safety; but it suddenly appeared to check itself, and so to modify its career that it alighted safely on deck. This kind is not more than eight or nine inches in length, and its bushy tail is as long as the body. The soft fur of the tail, like that of the body, is a delicate ashy-grey. There is a long stripe of black fur from the naked tip of the nose to the root of the tail, and the cheeks are white with a black patch; the flank membrane is edged with white, and this is the colour of the underneath part of the body; the ears are long, and of a brownish flesh colour.
Another kind, with a yellow flank membrane, is short-headed, and it inhabits Port Essington, North Australia,[106] whilst the true Short-headed Flying Phalanger is found in New South Wales.[107] Probably it is the first of these which is found in New Guinea, and which has been called the Squirrel Flying Phalanger by mistake. These Flying Phalangers all have long and nearly naked ears, and the side membrane extends to the outer finger. They have the outer two fingers of the hand long and equal to each other, or very nearly so; the second and third fingers are distinctly shorter than these; and the inner finger is very short. Their dentition is—Incisors, 62; canines, 1–10–0; premolars, 3–34–4; true molars, 4–44–4 = 40. The incisors of the lower jaw are, as usual, long and pointed, and almost horizontal, whilst the upper incisors are large and dilated, so far as the anterior ones are concerned, and the next is smaller than the hindmost. The canine is large, and separated from the first premolar, which is large and compressed, and all the molars have rounded tubercles on them.
SQUIRREL FLYING PHALANGER.
The OPOSSUM MOUSE[108] of the colonists of New South Wales used to be common in the neighbourhood of Port Jackson. It is about the size of a common Mouse, and of an ashy brown and grey colour on the upper parts and on the flank membrane; the rest is white. It belongs to the Flying Phalangers, but its side membrane scarcely extends to the wrist, and the thumb of the hind foot is large. It has only three true molars in each jaw on both sides, and the canine is close to the incisors. It forms part of the sub-genus Acrobata, whilst those already mentioned constitute the sub-genus Belideus (βέλος, a dart). Finally, the short-eared, white-bellied Taguan Phalanger of the scrub of New South Wales is the type of the sub-genus Petaurus.
GENUS TARSIPES.—THE NOOLBENGER, OR TAIT.[109]
This is an Australian curiosity amongst the Marsupials, and is a small, mouse-like thing, with a long muzzle, small ears, long tongue, and very few teeth. Its dental formula is—Incisors, 2–22; canines, 1–10–0; molars, 3–33–3. The fore and hind extremities have toes something like those of the Lemur, called Tarsius (Vol. I., page 248). The fore feet have five smallish toes, each thickened at the end, and a minute scale-like nail, which reaches neither the end nor sides of the toe. The hind feet have five toes on each, and the innermost has the formation of a thumb, and is slender and nailless. The second and third toes are very short, and are joined to the end and furnished with small pointed nails, which are directed upwards almost at right angles to the plane of the toe; and the fourth toe is twice as long as the second and third. The fifth is shorter than the fourth, and has a scale-like nail on the upper surface. This is the case with the fourth also. There is a long, slender tail. The small bones of this little honey-sucker are very thin, and the lower jaw has two slender and almost straight sides, and the inflection is wanting.
This little animal is rare, but it is to be found in West Australia, from Swan River to King George’s Sound. It is nocturnal in its habits, and catches flies in captivity with great ease. But its food is honey, which it gets like a moth, with its tongue. The tail is prehensile, and the little pouch contains four mammæ in the female.
The little Tarsipes, with its honey and insect diet, has a very long intestine and no cæcum, whilst the Koala has a cæcum more than three times the length of its body. The pigmy Acrobata has this organ disposed in a spiral curve in the left lumbar region. The marsupial bones are large in the Koala, and are long, broad, and flat, almost equalling the iliac bone in size. Finally, with regard to the parachute-fold of skin on the flanks of the Petaurists, it is a simple fold with very elastic tissues within, which draw it up to the body, more or less, when the animal is walking or standing. When, however, the limbs are extended after a jump, the membrane becomes very tense, and acts by increasing the surface of the body so as to oppose gravitation by the supporting power of the air.