MAY, 1921. AMERICAN MARSUPIAL, C^ENOLESTES OSGOOD. 21 



might be said to lie somewhere between those of Phascologale and 

 Antechinomys. The hallux is reduced and bears only a weak nail. It 

 is set at a slight angle but it scarcely reaches the end of the second 

 metatarsal and its functional importance is slight. The remaining four 

 toes are subequal, the third and fourth possibly a trifle longer than the 

 second and fifth. All are furnished with well-developed curved claws. 

 The third and fourth digits are connected at the base by an integumen- 

 tary web which is slightly more extensive than that between the other 

 digits, but this is scarcely to be regarded as a tendency toward syndac- 

 tylism. The soles are naked and provided with six plantar pads in 

 much the same relative positions as in Phascologale. Three of them are 

 digital, one hallucal, and two metatarsal. All are smooth without trans- 

 verse striations. See Plate II, figures 3 and 4. 



Pelage. The pelage is soft and thick over the entire body. Owing 

 to the peculiar distribution of hairs of different quality the coat is not 

 smooth or velvety but has an appearance of superficial looseness and 

 unevenness not uncommon in mammals of humid regions. The color is 

 practically uniform throughout, the underparts being only slightly 

 lighter than the upper owing to the absence of the fine exserted blackish 

 hairs which are generally distributed on the upperparts. The claws 

 and a few hairs at their bases are whitish but the hairiness of the upper 

 sides of the feet shows no contrast with the body. The tail also is colored 

 the same above and below and from base to tip except that in four out 

 of eleven specimens the tip is white. There are no facial markings and 

 in general it would be difficult to find a more uniformly colored animal. 

 The color is dull Mars brown, clearer on the underparts and more 

 mixed with darker and subject to light reflections on the upper parts. 



Marsupium. -No trace of an external pouch can be detected in 

 adult specimens of either sex and no immature examples have been 

 examined. Tomes (1863), in describing the original type of Hyracodon 

 fuliginosus, which was probably immature, states that it had a " small 

 and rudimentary pouch." Hence it is probable that the pouch in 

 Canolestes, as in Phascologale and some others, is present in the young 

 but disappears in the adult. 



MEASUREMENTS. 



External measurements. Fresh specimens measured in the field: 

 Average of 5 males: Total length 240.6 (235-251); head and body 119.2 

 (113-135); tail vertebrae 121.4 (118-126); hind foot with claw 23.5 

 (23-24.5). Of 5 females: 223 (209-230); 107.6 (106-113); H5-4 (103-121) 



