Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/233

Rh The eye has in the darkness a strong glow like a flashing ruby, and death is accompanied by a strong dilatation of the vertical pupil.

In captivity it very soon becomes familiar with the man who feeds it, but soon dies when removed from its native land, with the loss of its usual food, and the climatic conditions of the country where it was born.

Being strongly pursued by the aborigines and easily caught, this species is not numerous in any portion of Arnhem Land. It is nearly everywhere to be found, but the traveller may search the moonlit woods night after night without seeing a single animal, and in no locality do its numbers in any way approach those of the southern colonised parts of the continent. The brown variety was only found in the jungle around the river Daly, and all the specimens shot or captured in the open Eucalyptus forest were of the common bluish grey colour. In the vicinity of Roebuck Bay, Western Australia, the species was occasionally met with, and in all the specimens I examined the fur was of the latter colour.

The Trichosurus vulpecula breeds in the north all the year round, and only one young is found in the pouch of the female.

On leaving the pouch of the mother animal the fur of a juvenile specimen has a strong grassy green tinge, which gradually fades, and after two or three weeks gives place to the general colouring of the adult.

Captured in infancy, it is, like most marsupials, easily tamed, and after a time gets very attached to man.

They eat almost any vegetable, from a grass-root to the fruit of the tallest Eucalyptus, and seem to require a good supply of water. In captivity they will drink at least once a day, generally a little after sundown, and on lagoons and rivers their tracks are generally seen at the water's edge.

The Little Flying Squirrel is found all over Arnhem Land, but owing to its small size and mode of hiding in the hollow Zool. 4th ser. vol. I., May, 1897.