THE AUSTRALIAN MARSUPIAL MOLE. 651 



for this kind of investigation. The tracks of the animal are then 

 preserved in the ground, while the soil is at other times too friable 

 to retain any mark. The Notoryctes is essentially a burrower, and 

 never comes out from under the sand except to run a few feet in a 

 slow and tortuous gait, dragging its belly along the ground. It 

 walks, clinching the outer edges of its claws in the ground, leav- 

 ing a triple, often interrupted, sinuous track, the lateral lines of 

 which are drawn by the feet, the middle line by the tail, on which 

 the animal supports itself by beating it on the ground. The track 

 resembles those of some Australian lizards, which Prof. Stirling 

 was apt at first to mistake for them. 



The Notoryctes burrows obliquely in the sand, going two or 

 three inches under the ground, and never betraying its passage 

 except by a slight undulation of the soil. In digging it uses its 

 conical nose, which is protected by a horny plate, and the strong, 

 mattock-shaped claws of its fore feet. The hind feet, which are 

 wider and spade-shaped, throw the sand back so that no trace is 

 left of the tunnel which it hollows. It comes to the surface a few 

 yards farther on, and then buries itself again, all without making 

 any noise. It is prodigiously agile and swift, a property on which 

 Mr. Benham, who lived for some time at Idracowra, says : " Every- 

 body here can tell you how soon one of these animals will get 

 away by digging in the sand. I had brought a live one to the 

 house and we were talking of its agility in digging. Mr. Stokes 

 desired to see it at work. After spading and turning over the 

 ground near the house, we set the animal down ; I held it in my 

 hands till it was nearly hidden, and then tried to overtake it by 

 scratching the ground behind it, but it was quicker than I. I 

 took a shovel and tried to find it, but without success. Another 

 man came to my help with a second shovel, and also a native 

 woman used to digging in the ground with her hands. But all 

 three of us could not find it." 



The Notoryctes are hard to keep alive, even if large tubs full 

 of sand are provided. Night and day can be heard the slight sound 

 they make in digging in this friable soil. They would not touch 

 the ants which Mr. Stirling gave them, although ants were found 

 in their stomachs. On the other hand, they readily ate the large 

 white grubs of long-horned beetles and Lepidoptera ; one "of them 

 even ate bread, but it died the next day. They did not try to 

 bite when taken in the hand. The natives call them oor-quamata, 

 and seem to have a superstitious fear of them, arising perhaps 

 from the animal's being almost unknown. They have never seen 

 the young ones. The intestines of different individuals dissected 

 by Mr. Stirling contained ants and other insects. 



At first sight, the animal looks very much like the Chryso- 

 chlores, or golden moles of the Cape, but differs from them by 



