The correspondence of the koala in form and habits to the sloths among the higher mammalia has been previously mentioned. The parallelism might be pursued in yet another direction. In earlier times the small tree-inhabiting South American sloths were supplemented by ground-frequenting species, such as the Megatherium, which were of comparatively titanic proportions. The epoch of the accredited existence of these huge ground-sloths was so comparatively recent—the later tertiaries—that it is even yet not regarded as altogether improbable that some existing representative of the race may yet be discovered in the fastnesses of the South American forests, and thus claim a niche in the pages of a subsequent edition of "Living Animals." In a like manner the little sloth-like tree-frequenting "Australian Bear" had his primeval ground-dwelling colossi, and there is yet a lurking hope among enthusiastic zoologists that some surviving scion of the little koala's doughty forebears may yet turn up in the practically unexplored Central Australian wildernesses. Some such anticipations, as a matter of fact, stimulated the hopes and aspirations of the participators in one of the latest of these exploring expeditions, which, while not successful in this instance in obtaining so great a prize, secured for science that most interesting and previously unknown marsupial mammal the Pouched Mole.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
SQUIRREL-LIKE FLYING-PHALANGER OF VICTORIA.
This animal has soft grey fur like that of the chinchilla.
The Typical Phalangers.
The typical Phalangers, or Opossums, as they are familiarly known throughout Australia, include a very considerable number of representatives, ranging in size from that of a small mouse to that of a full-grown cat. All are essentially arboreal in their habits, feeding principally on the leaves and flowers of the various gums. They are for the most part strictly nocturnal in their habits, and make their homes and retiring-places during the day in the hollow trunks and limbs that are of such abundant occurrence in the periodically fire-swept Australian forests. Almost all the larger species are notable for the length, thickness, and exquisitely fine texture of their fur, a circumstance for which they are consequently laid under heavy penalties for the sake of their pelts. The island colony of Tasmania, in the extreme south, with its colder climate, as might be anticipated, produces the finest qualities of these furs, that of the Black or Sooty Opossum, which is peculiar to the island, being most highly prized. The length and furry character of their in many instances prehensile tails also form a conspicuous feature of this group. Nature, in fact, apparently distributed caudal material so over-liberally among these marsupials that the little koala had to make shift without.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
LARGER FLYING-PHALANGER.