PERAMELID.E. 19 



variable number of white patches on the neck, shoulders, rump, 

 and chest, the pectoral patch only being constant. Ears hairy, 

 with well-marked basal tufts. Soles naked, coarsely granulated, 

 and without pads ; a small transversely-striated pad at the extreme 

 tip of each toe. Tail short, uniformly thickly hairy. Mammae 1 



Dimensions. Head and body about twenty-eight inches ; tail 

 about twelve inches. 



Habitat. Tasmania. 



References. Thomas, B.M. Catal. p. 259, pi. xxiv. fig. 2 (right 

 molar*}; Gould, Mamm. Austr. i. pi. xlviii. 



Genus VII.THYL ACINUS, Temminck (1827). 



Back transversely banded with black. Size large; form wolf-like. 

 Muzzle long and slender. Ears of medium size. Tail well 

 developed, short-haired. Feet markedly digitigrade. Toes sub- 

 equal, with short, thick, conical claws. Hallux absent. Pouch 

 opening backwards. Mammie four. Marsupial bones rudimentary. 



Dentition.-l. gf 4 , C. J, P. J|* M. J-Jf 4 x 2 = 46 

 Habits. Terrestrial ; carnivorous. 



Note. Thylacinus speheus, Owen, a fossil form of larger size 

 than the living representative is also known from the Wellington 

 Caves and the Queensland Pleistocene. 



1. THYLACINUS CYNOCEPHALUS, Harris, sp. (1808). 

 Tasmanian Wolf. 



Fur short, close, and crisp. General color above pale finely 

 grizzled gray-brown, with a faint yellowish or tawny tinge ; below 

 slightly paler. Round the eyes, edges and base of the ears nearly 

 white. Posterior part of back with about sixteen blackish-brown 

 transverse bands, descending on the rump nearly to the knee. 

 Soles naked, coarsely granulated, without defined pads. Tail 

 with indistinct crests above and below, its tip blackish. 



Dimensions. Head and body about forty-four inches ; tail 

 about twenty-one inches. 



Habitat. Tasmania. 



References. Thomas, B.M. Catal. p. 255, pi. xxiv. fig. 1 (right 

 *nolar 3 ); Gould, Mamm. Austr. i. pis. liii. (head), liv. 



Family IL PERAMELID^E. 



Bandicoots. 



Hind limbs decidedly the longer. Fore feet with two or gener- 

 ally three of the middle digits long, and clawed, the others rudi- 



