The loftiest of the gum-trees of the country from Moreton Bay to Port Phillip, and even more widely than this, were often the familiar haunt of a small Marsupial animal, not unlike a little Bear, about two feet in length, and without a tail. It is a famous tree-climber, and its stout body, small head, short limbs, and well-developed feet, are all cased in an ash-grey fur. It has moderate-sized ears, which are hidden by the long hair of the head, and it has a short and nearly naked black muzzle. The eye is large and without eyelashes. The natives climb up the trees after it, according to Mr. Gould, with as much ease and expertness as an European would get up a long ladder, and having reached the branch, perhaps forty or fifty feet from the ground, they follow the animal to the extremity of a bough, and either kill it or take it alive. This animal is called the KOALA, and it feeds on the tender shoots of the blue gum in preference to those of any others, and it rests and feeds in the boughs. At night it descends and prowls about, scratching up the ground in search of some peculiar roots, and it seems to creep rather than to walk. When angry it utters a long, shrill yell, and assumes a fierce and menacing look. They are found in pairs, and the young soon learn to perch on the mother’s shoulders. Mr. Gould says that, unlike most quadrupeds, the Koala does not flee upon the approach of man, and that it is very tenacious of life. Even when severely wounded it will not quit its hold of the branch upon which it may be. The animal has a nice thick fur, which nearly hides the ears, and the pouch is large. A careful examination of the animal shows that it differs from the Kangaroos and Wombats; it is more like the latter than the former, but it is sufficiently distinct to be placed in another family, the Phalangers, in which the incisors are six above and two below, and there are two canines in the upper jaw, and in some, two in the lower jaw, but not in all. There are two premolars above and below, and either six or eight molars in the upper and lower jaws. The head is rather small, and the face is short, the upper lip being cleft. The limbs are equal; the fore feet have five well-made toes with compressed and curved claws; the hind feet have five toes, of which the first or inner one is large, nailless, and at right angles to the rest, and opposable to them. The second and third toes are shorter than the others, and are united in a common skin, and they have nails. The fourth and fifth toes are curved and have compressed claws. The name Phalangista is derived from this union by skin of the phalanges of the foot. The tail may be absent, or long, and more or less prehensile, but sometimes not. [Illustration: KOALA.] There is a well-developed pouch, and the stomach is simple, and the cæcum is usually very long and large. One young one is produced at a birth.