200 Zoological Society. 



in width, for the reception of the inferior canines. The canines are 

 well developed : another space intervenes between them and the false 

 molars, which latter are all rather widely separated, of a conical 

 shape, and have a small tubercle anterior to the body of the tooth. 



" The molars oiPerameles, as figured by M. F. Cuvier in his 'Dents 

 des Mammiferes* consist of two prisms fixed to a slightly curved 

 base, with the concavity towards the inside of the jaw; but in 

 this species the molars are quadrangular, having had but two sets 

 of tubercles, and in the present specimen these teeth are worn 

 down and present a square surface, inclosed by enamel, having a 

 band of the same running transversely across the middle of the tooth. 

 The two last molars of the upper jaw approximate so closely, as to 

 require careful examination to detect the line of separation. The 

 teeth of the lower jaw, except in number and in the circumstance of 

 all the incisors forming a continuous series, do not differ from those 

 of the upper. When the jaws are closed, the posterior molars of the 

 upper and lower jaws are in contact. 



"A friend of Mr. Gould's, residing in Western Australia, states that 

 these animals are found beyond the mountains of Swan River, in 

 the district of York. They feed upon large maggots and the roots 

 of trees, and do considerable damage to the maize and potato crops 

 by burrowing. A specimen kept by him in confinement became in 

 a few days very docile, but was irritable, an i resented the slightest 

 affront or ill usage. It took bread, which it held in its fore-paws. 

 A young one to which it gave birth unfortunately escaped, after 

 being carried in the mother's pouch for several days." 



Mr. Reid considers the distinctions between this and the rest of 

 the species belonging to the genus Perameles so marked, that should 

 more of the same form be discovered, the above characters would 

 constitute a subgenus to which the name of Macrotis might be 

 applied. 



Mr. Waterhouse exhibited a second specimen of Myrmecobius, 

 and directed the attention of the Meeting to certain differences ex- 

 isting between it and the one upon which he had founded the cha- 

 racters of the genus, and described under the specific name of 'fas- 

 ciatus*.' 



The present animal differs from the one previously described in 

 having the black and fulvous colouring of the back less decided, 

 owing to a larger proportion of interspersed white hairs. The fasciae, 

 instead of being white, are of a yellowish cream-colour, and they also 

 differ in number and arrangement. Commencing from the tail, the 

 three first are distinct and uninterrupted, the intermediate spaces 

 being about \ an inch in width, black, with white hairs interspersed, 

 and a few of an ochraceous colour. The fourth is also distinct, but 

 instead of being continued across the back, it is met by two fasciae 

 from the opposite side. The two following are continuous, but less 

 distinct than either of the foregoing. Beyond these, the fasciae are 



♦ Mr. Waterhouse's former description of this genus will be found in 

 Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., vol. ix. p. 520. 



