NOTORYCTES. O 



Family I. NOTOEYCTID^. 



Limbs subequal, short, and very strong. Fore feet with five 

 digits ; hind feet asyndactylous, with five toes ; hallux clawed ; 

 the other toes unequal in size. No visible external eyes. Ears 

 without conch. Clavicle well developed. Chevron bones present. 



Genus I. NOTORYCTES, Stirling (1891). 



Dorsal aspect of snout covered by a hard horny shield, which 

 is divided into two segments by a transverse ridge. Mouth ven- 

 tral in position. Ear openings present, but almost completely 

 concealed by the overhanging fur. Tail hard, tough, and leathery, 

 marked by conspicuous annular rings, thick at its insertion but 

 rapidly decreasing in size towards its extremity, which is blunt 

 and knob-like. The four inner toes of both fore and hind feet 

 clawed, the fifth with a short, broad, horny nail. Palms and soles 

 naked, covered with tough, leathery, wrinkled skin ; the latter 

 traversed by oblique folds. The claws of the third and fourth 

 digits enormously developed ; those of the corresponding toes 

 curved outwards and backwards. Pouch opening backwards. 

 Mammae two, minute. 



Vertebrae. C. 7, D. 15, L. 4, S. 6, C. 12 = 44. 

 Dentition.-l. ^, C. , P. JMi^ M. gJ-J x 2 = 40 to 42. 

 Habits. Terrestrial; fossorial ; insectivorous. 



Note. The axis and four succeeding cervical vertebrae are firmly 

 ankylosed together, as are also all the sacral vertebrae. In the 

 dental formula given above I have preferred to consider the teeth, 

 which Dr. Stirling figures as an upper and lower canine, as a 

 fourth upper and third lower incisor. 



1. NOTORYCTES TYPHLOPS, Stirling (1888). 



Marsupial Mole. 



Size small, form stout. Fur long, soft, of a bright lustrous 

 silken appearance ; sometimes darker across the loins ; a patch of 

 darkish red fur surrounding the pouch; interior of pouch sparsely 

 lined with reddish fawn-colored hairs. Upper surface of tail 

 clothed with fur similar to that of the back on its anterior half; the 

 sides and lower surface naked. 



Dimensions. Head and body about five inches; tail about one 

 and one-fifth inch. 



Habitat. Central South Australia. 



References. Stirling, Trans. Roy. Soc. South Austr. 1888, p. 

 21, and 1891, p. 154, pis. ii. -ix. 



Note. In the attempt to formulate the above divisional and 

 generic definitions for Dr. Stirling's Notoryctes typhlops, I have 



