126 Mr. Octey on certain Australian Quadrupeds, 
alone the animal might be readily distinguished, in the absence of more im- 
portant characters. 
Such, I regret to say, are the very meagre details which alone I have it in 
my power to give as to the generic characters of this interesting animal; I 
have delayed the publication of my observations upon this subject for six 
years, in hopes of obtaining more definite information ; but though these hopes 
have been hitherto in a great measure indulged in vain, they may perhaps be 
finally realized through the medium of the present notice. 
The only species which has come under my observation is that in the 
Society's Collection, and which Major Mitchell has identified with the animal 
found by him during his recent journey into the interior of Australia. From 
the singularity of its habits, as related in the following interesting extract 
from that gentleman’s Journal, I propose to distinguish it by the specific 
name of 
CowiLURUS Constructor. C. subcinereus, ventre albo: auriculis longis, nudis ; 
cauda longissima, marginata. 
The length of this animal from the muzzle to the origin of the tail is ten 
inches; that of the tail itself nine inches and a half; of the head, from the 
muzzle to the anterior margin of the ear, two inches and a quarter; of the 
ear rather better than an inch; of the anterior extremities about two inches; 
and of the posterior three inches and three quarters, of which the tarsus alone 
measures an inch and three quarters; the distance between the ears is about 
three quarters of an inch; the distance between the eyes one inch ; and the 
breadth of the ear three quarters of an inch. "These proportions, as far as 
they relate to the comparative length of the anterior and posterior extremities, 
are much the same as those of the Common Rabbit, or if anything, the 
inequality is rather less considerable; on the other hand they scarcely differ 
from the proportions of the same parts in the Mus longipes of Pallas, and 
other species of the tetrapodal section of the Gerbilles, and we may therefore 
reasonably infer that the pace and motions of the Conilurus constructor are in 
no respect different from the movements of these animals. The length and 
separation of the fingers also give it a prehensile power in the hand, which 
will naturally be turned to purposes of manipulation, such as the handling of 
