[mod.L. from the native name; see COUSCOUS2.] A genus of marsupial quadrupeds found in New Guinea.
1662. J. Davies, Mandelslo’s Trav. E. Ind., 165. There is in this Island a kind of beasts they call Cusos, that keeps constantly in trees, living on nothing but fruit. They resemble our Rabbets.
1880. D’Albertis, New Guinea, I. 407. On the branch of a tall tree we may perhaps see a cuscus slowly creeping along.
1889. H. H. Romilly, Verandah in N. Guinea, 69. The opossums and cuscus tribe taste strongly of gum leaves on which they feed.
