Pseudochirus dahlii. "Wogoit."
Before entering the big central tableland of Arnhem Land, the traveller will in the neighbourhood of the western sources of the river Mary find a very peculiar granitic formation.
From the plain country, the soil of which chiefly consists of a coarse granitic sand, there inwardly rises the huge Eucalyptus forest, hill by hill, with wild torn forms, and on the very hills grows plentifully the cypress of North Australia, Callitris robusta (vulg. cypress-pine).
These hills, which are only parted by small valleys, never show any primitive rock, but rise from the granite like colossal heaps of stones and débris. Granitic boulders in all sizes and forms are heaped up on each other to a height of more than a hundred feet, and through crevasses and passages one may, crawling or walking, penetrate the whole of the dark interior of the mountain. In these surroundings I found, in May, 1895, besides the usual cave-dwellers of the north, Dasyurus halocatus, Petrogale brachyotis, and the rare P. concinna, a Pseudochirus new to science.
The natives called it "Wogoit," and in the 'Zool. Anzeiger,' No. 490, 1895, and in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,[1] Prof. R. Collett, of Christiania, has described it under the name of Pseudochirus dahlii, "the Rock Phalanger."
Subsequent expeditions showed me that the species also occurred numerously in the great central tableland; but outside these localities I never discovered the slightest trace of the animal.
The Wogoit is a strictly nocturnal animal, which spends the day sleeping in the caves and crevasses of the granitic heaps, choosing the darkest recesses as a resting-place. After sundown it crawls out from cover, seeking food in the blossoming gum trees, such as Eucalyptus miniata and tetrodonta. It also commonly frequents a species of Terminalia, which carries a fleshy, and even to the human palate, savoury stone-fruit. At the break of day the Wogoit again takes refuge in the dark depths of the caves.
Generally the animals are found in pairs, male and female, sometimes accompanied by a half-grown young one. When at rest the animals very often lie squeezed flat in some crevice, without regard as to its being horizontal, vertical, or slanting, or
- ↑ Shortly to be published.—Ed.
