1134 ON NEW OR RARE VERTEBRATES FROM THE HERBERT RIVER, 



three diastemal teeth, and on the other hand is said to be 

 frequently devoid of them. 



The cranial, still more the dental modifications exemplified by 

 this skull, would doubtless have sufficed to distinguish a species 

 had they occurred in a fossil subject, and one cannot help feeling 

 surprise that they are not accompanied by external characters as 

 clearly distinctive. The absence of these, and the possibility that 

 the Herberton Petaurist may be found to vary in dentition 

 sufficiently for its full identification with normal representatives of 

 the species, must give us pause to await further material. At 

 present one fails to observe a superficial character that may not be 

 paralleled amongst the variations of the recognised species. Further 

 material is not easily procurable. The animal inhabits a part of 

 the Herberton Mountains haunted as yet by a wild and dangerous 

 tribe of blacks, and the collector, Mr. Broadbent, was unable to 

 procure more than a single specimen. 



Dromicia frontalis, n. sp. 



The occurrence of a Dromicia in Queensland has not, so far as 

 the writer can ascertain, been placed on record, and no example of 

 a species existing in the southern part of the colony is known to 

 him. It was therefore with pleasure that he found a representative 

 of this very interesting link-form in the Herberton collection. 

 Three specimens caught in the same tree by a blackfellow were 

 brought to Mr. Broadbent — all three of the same age and size. 

 The two which are females have their pouches open, but whether 

 they have borne young is very doubtful — from their stage of 

 dentition they cannot be more than two-thirds grown. Immature 

 as they are, however, they are well characterised, and cannot be con- 

 founded with nana, concinna, or unicolor. They may be described 

 as D. frontalis (" Cubbie-cubbie" of the natives). 



Fur short, not extending on to the tail ; tail not incrassated at 

 base ; nails and pads of second and third toes separated ; a distinct 

 patagial fold ; colour above varied, beneath uniform ; size small. 



On the upper surface greyish fawn, rather darker on the vertex 

 and occiput (in one Q example on the nape also). Forehead 



