( 3 ) 



tail even this suffusion is not visible. Hairs of head directed forward from the 

 crown, though this may be duo to the make of the skin ; no darker suffusion there 

 visible. Ears short, buried in the fur, the black of their backs more, and tlie 

 yellowish or orange of their inner surface less, developed than in urxiiius, so that 

 instead of appearing fulvous or orange on a black ground, the ear is conspicuously 

 black on a whitish ground, whence the name I have chosen for the species. 

 Undersnrface pale yellowish, instead of dark ochraceous, the hairs dark brown 

 at their bases. Tail decidedly sliorter than in the allied species, the reduction 

 being mainly or entirely in the naked portion : furry portion above and below 

 pale yellow. 



Skull and teeth very much as in Ph. ursiitii.t ; the distance between the orbits 

 is, however, decidedly less, and the supraorbital edges are shari)er and less inflated. 

 Only one small intermediate t<iotli present on each side below. 



Hab. Lirnng, Talaut Islands. Three specimens obtained by native collectors. 



Dimensions, from skin, approximate : — 



Head and body 450 mm. ; tail* 335, naked part of tail above 130, ditto 

 below 210. 



Skull : basal length 79 : greatest breadth .J.) ; nasals, length ,'.'7, greatest 

 breadth 13-3, least breadth 9 ; interorbital breadth 12'3 ; palate, length 4.5 ; palatal 

 foramen 5-5 ; basi-cranial axis 2".>'5 ; basi-facial axis 49. Teeth, horizontal 

 length of last premolar 5-7 ; length of ms'~^ 19. 



The occurrence of this fine Cuscns in the Talaut Islands, where it evidently 

 represents Ph. itrsinus, is a matter of great interest, and Mr. Roth.schild is to be 

 congratulated on its discover}'. Of the three specimens collected, he has been 

 generous enough to present one to the British Museum, the others, which 

 Mr. Hartert assures me are quite similar, being iu the Tring Museum. 



3. Sminthopsis hirtipes sp. nov. 



Size medium. Colour apparently, so far as can be judged from a spirit 

 specimen, much as in the ordinary species without special face-markings, more 

 or less fawn above, white below, the hairs slate-coloured at base. Ears very large, 

 laid forward in a spirit specimen they reach some way beyond the anterior canthus 

 of the eye. Hands and feet quite different to those of any other species, and 

 more recalling those of some of the African Gerbilles. Hands with a large trefoil- 

 shaped elevation occupying the whole of the palm, the elevation being covered 

 all over with fine silvery hairs, and with no normal pads on it at all ; the under- 

 snrface of the digits, however, is naked and very finely granulated. Similarlj' 

 the feet are hairy below throughout, except just along the middle line of the 

 digits ; on the terminal part of the metatarsus there is, as on the hand, a large 

 hairy elevation without any pads ; all the hairs of the foot, above as well as 

 below, are longer than usual, and especially those along the outer surface, where 

 they form a distinct silvery fringe from the ankle to the tip of the fifth toe. Tail 

 long, slightly incrassated for its basal lialf, dull whitish throughout. 



Skull similar in its general outlines to that of -S'. cras.w'audata, but larger, 

 more heavily built, and with decidedly larger bullae. No trace of jiostorbital 

 processes. Proportions of upper premolars much as in S. Icucojju.-<. 



* J'robably shrunk ; vertebrae taken out. 



