300 DESCRIPTION OF A NEW MARSUPIAL MAMMAL. 



In the * Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' for July, 

 1837, two other species of this genus are described by my- 

 self, under the names Phase. Jlavipes, and Phase, murina ; 

 of both these species I had an opportunity of examining the 

 dentition, and as I found them to be adult animals closely 

 allied to Didelphis minimus, it is almost certain that that 

 animal is also adult, since it would appear that it was the 

 smallness of its size, which led M. Temminck to believe it 

 might be young. I may mention, that one of the species 

 described by myself (the Phase, murina) is smaller than Did. 

 minimus, and that both the species agree in all essential par- 

 ticulars with the larger typical species, which latter differs 

 from others of the genus hitherto discovered in having long 

 hairs forming a kind of bush on the apical half of the tail. 



I am now enabled to add a fifth species to the genus Phas- 

 eogale, and of which I have drawn up the following descrip- 

 tion. The original is in the museum of Mr. Swainson, who 

 has kindly permitted me to examine and describe it, and whose 

 name I have made use of, to distinguish the species. 



Swainson's Phascogale. / 



Phascogale Swainsonii, Waterhouse. 



This species is rather larger than either the Phas. Jiavi- 

 pes or Phas. minima : its fur, instead of being, as in 

 Phas. Jlavipes, of a yellow-grey tint, is of a dark and rich 

 brown hue ; the under parts of the body are deep grey, 

 slightly grizzled with white, whereas in Phas. Jlavipes, the 

 under parts are yellow and white : the most important differ- 

 ences, however, consist in the more attenuated and elongated 

 form of the head, especially of the anterior portion ; the 

 teeth, nevertheless, form an uninterrupted series, hence each 

 tooth (especially the false molars), has a proportionately 

 greater antero-posterior extent. The distance from the fore- 

 part of the front incisors of the upper jaw to the hinder part 

 of the third true molar in Phase. Swainsonii) is 7j lines, 

 whilst in Phase. Jlavipes, the same measurement gives 6f 

 lines : the teeth are less powerful than in the animal last 

 mentioned, and the incisors of the upper jaw form an unin- 

 terrupted series, whilst in Phase. Jlavipes, there is an inter- 

 space on either side between the anterior pair of incisors 

 and the lateral ones. In the elongated and slender form of 

 the muzzle, and more delicate teeth, the present animal 

 evinces an approach to the Myrmeeohius ; its fur is mode- 

 rately soft, rather long and glossy, of a deep slate-colour 



