. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. MARSUPIALS AND MONOTREMES 329 back is a dirty or creamy white, interspersed with various-shaped blotches of nut-brown or black ; the chin, breast, and under-parts are a purer white, and the limbs grey or reddish brown, or, as show^n in the photograph over-leaf, mottled like the body. The Black Cuscus of Celebes is, as its name de- notes, a much more sombre- looking animal, and is also the largestspecies,its dimensions equalling or exceeding those ofa large cat. The uniformly tinted GREvCuscuSofTimor, Amboina, and other of the Indo-Malay Islands is very simil
. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. MARSUPIALS AND MONOTREMES 329 back is a dirty or creamy white, interspersed with various-shaped blotches of nut-brown or black ; the chin, breast, and under-parts are a purer white, and the limbs grey or reddish brown, or, as show^n in the photograph over-leaf, mottled like the body. The Black Cuscus of Celebes is, as its name de- notes, a much more sombre- looking animal, and is also the largestspecies,its dimensions equalling or exceeding those ofa large cat. The uniformly tinted GREvCuscuSofTimor, Amboina, and other of the Indo-Malay Islands is very similar in size and aspect, excepting for the half-naked tail, to the common ring- tailed phalanger. All the cuscuses are of rare occurrence in even their most favoured habitats. On one occasion the writer came across an example of the grey species in the scrub forest of Thursday Island, Torres Straits. In this instance, however, it is doubtful if the animal was not an escaped pet brought over from the neighbouring coast of New Guinea. Much interesting in- formation concerning different varieties of the cuscus is contained in Dr. Alfred Wallace's interesting work " The Malay ; An anecdote of one which was brought to this naturalist during his residence in the Ar-u Islands — the headquarters of the great bird of paradise—is thus related: " Just as we had cleared away and packed up for the night, a strange beast was brought, which had been shot by the natives. It resembled in size and in its white woolly covering a small fat lamb, but had short legs, hand-like feet with large claws, and a long prehensile tail. It was a Spotted Cuscus, one of the curious marsupial animals of the Papuan region, and I was very desirous to obtain the skin. T\ie owners, however, said they wanted to eat it; and though I offered them a good price, and promised to give them all the meat, there was great hesitation. Suspecting the reason, I offered, though it was night, to set to
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Keywords: ., bookauthorco, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmammals
