Volume II Part 40 (1/2)

Number 28. Perameles fusciventer, Gray.

Brown, yellow grizelled; tail above blackish, beneath grey; head short, conical; belly grey brown, with broad rufous channelled hairs. This species is like P. obesula in colour, but the head is shorter, and the belly of that species is white, with white bristles.

Number 37. Dromicia nana.

The dent.i.tion and the peculiar form and character of the tail of this species at once point out that it should const.i.tute a distinct genus from the other Phalangers, from which it differs in many of its habits.

Number 38. Hepoona cookii.

Specimens from the same locality differ from one another in the extent of the white on the tail, in the darkness of the colour of the fur, and in the limbs and sides of the body being of the colour of the back, or more or less rufous. There are either five or six species, or only one.

Number 39.

I have retained the name of Petaurista for the flying Phalangers with hairy ears, as Dr. Shaw's Didelphis petaurus is evidently the same as P.

flaviventer, and has naked ears, like the other species, and his name Petaurus should be used rather than Mr. Waterhouse's Belideus for this genus.

Number 40.

Petaurista leucogaster, may only be a variety of P. taguanoides.

Number 42. Petaurus macrourus.

This species is only known from the figures of Dr. Shaw. They have a specimen of a young Petaurista taguanoides, under this name, in the Paris Museum.

Number 43. Petaurus breviceps.

This is probably the species called P. peronii in Mr. G. Bennett's catalogue of the Australian Museum. It may also be M. Desmarest's; if this is so, the latter name will have to be adopted, and the one first used erased from the list.

Number 47.

The Macropi with hairy m.u.f.fles are found in gra.s.sy places, while the Halmaturi are confined to the scrubs; and the Petrogalae, or Rock-Kangaroos, to the rocky districts; the latter, like Bettongia, sit with their tail between the legs. Mr. Gould informs me the animals of the latter genus also use their tails for the purpose of carrying the gra.s.s to their nests. The tree Kangaroos of New Guinea have a tail somewhat like a squirrel. These differences of habit show the propriety of dividing this group of animals into genera.

Number 48. Macropus laniger.

This name must be rejected as the animal is not wool-bearing. The skin in the Paris Museum is made up with the skin of a sheep. M. Desmarest's description of the female M. rufogriseus in the New Dictionary, very nearly agrees with this species, but Mr. Gould is inclined to consider the specimen he was shown for that species in the Paris Museum was M.

major.

Number 57. Halmaturus elegans.

The description of Mr. Lambert is so short that it has. .h.i.therto been considered impossible to determine it with accuracy; but on comparing the coloured plate which is bound up with Sir Joseph Banks' copy of the volume of the Transactions containing the paper, now in the Museum Library, with the specimens of kangaroos in the Museum collection, I have very little doubt of its being intended for one which Mr. Gould considers as identical with M. ruficollis of M. Desmarest. M. Desmarest's animal is said to come from King's Island, in Ba.s.s Strait, while Mr. Gould's animal, like the one Mr. Lambert described, is from New South Wales. Mr.

Gunn remarks that H. billardieri is common in the locality indicated by M. Desmarest.

Number 67. Petrogale brachyotis.

This species was discovered by Captain G. Grey, in his expedition, and the specimens he collected he gave to Mr. Gould, who described them, and is now about to figure them in his forthcoming monograph of the species of kangaroos: a work which will be as far superior to any other published on Mammalia in beauty of design and accuracy in the execution of the plates as his work on Birds has been to any that has. .h.i.therto appeared either in England or on the Continent. The specimens are now in the collection of the British Museum.

Number 84. Mus lutreola.

Back black and yellowish grizelled, with longer black hairs; sides yellowish grey, beneath grey lead colour, under fur lead colour; ears with scattered short adpressed hairs; whiskers black; front teeth yellow; tail with short black adpressed bristles; length of body and head 7, tail 4, hind-feet 1 1-4 inches. The water-rat of the South Australian Colonist. Inhabits South Australia, River Torrens, Ba.s.s Strait, New South Wales; Musquito Islands and Macdonald's River, Van Diemen's Land, Tasman's Peninsula. J. Gould, Esquire.