Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/234

206 branches of large trees, I always found it difficult to obtain. It is nowhere numerous, but more common along the coast than in the interior. I only succeeded in securing specimens on a few occasions.

Like all the other Phalangistidæ, it is strictly nocturnal, and using its flying membrane the little animal will swiftly move from tree to tree searching for food. The "flying" only consists in sliding from a higher tree to a lower one, or to the ground, using the large expansion of the skin between the fore and hind legs as a parachute. Curiosity will sometimes induce this little Squirrel to visit one's camp, and on one of the heads of the Mary river I remember one of these little animals appearing every night towards daybreak, examining our camp, until one day we discovered its hiding place in a hollow tree and killed it.

The Petaurus having no pouch, the young simply adhere to the teats of the mother. During their most helpless stages I am inclined to believe they are always fixed to the mother in this way, this being also the case with other marsupials destitute of a pouch, such as the Dasyuridæ. Later on the young are undoubtedly left behind in the lair, as their size and number would prevent the mother from moving with sufficient ease. They are sucklings until they have reached half the size of an adult individual, and their number is three; at least, that was the number in the only case I had the opportunity of observing.

In the vicinity of Roebuck Bay this species was not uncommon.

This species occurs nearly everywhere in Arnhem Land, but according to my experience never plentifully except in the mountainous parts of the country. Although in the forest-clad plains it resorts to the hollow trees as a hiding-place, the broken rocks and boulders in the mountain ranges seem to have a greater attraction, and in their branching caves and crevasses the little "native Cat" finds a secure resting-place.

Although the habits of the animal are nocturnal, it very often commences hunting a little before sunset, and I once saw it moving about in broad daylight.

Walking or running it carries its tail erect like the Felis