a streamer, as they launch themselves on their bold
and seemingly perilous leaps.
This species, whose fur is exquisitely soft and full, is of a delicate grey colour, with a line down the back, and the borders of the lateral membranes, dark brown. It is a native of New South Wales, and is said to be abundant at the foot of the Blue - Mountains. The skins are sent to this country as an article of commerce.
Genus Paascotarctos. (Desm.)
This genus, of which only a single species has been recognised, differs but slightly from Phalangasta in its dentition and anatomy; but its superior size, its clumsy form and gait, its shaggy ears, and the absence of a tail, render it distinguishable at a glance from every other member of this Family. It is a robust animal, with thick limbs and powerful claws; the head is large and round, with a blunt muzzle; the ears are broad, and stand out from the sides of the head, in a singular manner ; they are clothed with long, bushy fur. The feet have each five toes, armed with large, sharp, curved claws: the fore-feet have this peculiarity, that the innermost two toes are a pair by themselves, as it were two thumbs, being opposible to the other uhtee:
The only known species is the Koala, or Native Bear of the colonists (Phascolarctos fuscus, Desm.), which is a little more than two feet in length, covered with a thick compact wool, of an ashy-grey colour, patched with white on the hinder parts. It is said to resemble a bear, in its gait upon the ground, and in its mode of climbing. ‘The some-
