On a Collection of Mainmab from Central aiitl Northern Queensland. §51 



Ordo Sirenia. 

 Fam. Halicoridae. 



19. Halicore duyung (Erxl.) 1777, 

 var, australis Owen 1847. 



Tn'rhechiis flitg;ti»g Eexl. Sj'st. Reg. Anim. p. 599 (1777). 

 Tric/ior/nis fhi-ronp: Gmkl, Syst. Nat. ed. XIII, p. 60 (1788). 

 Halicore diignng III. Prodr. Syst. Mamm. Av. p. 140 (1811). 

 Halicore australis O^ven, Jukes Voy. Fly Vol. II, p. 323 (1847). 



A. Young, Toriila statioH, Aug. 1883 (skin with skull). 



B. Mature female, Torilla Station, Aug. 1883 (skeleton). 



Distributed along the whole coast of Queensland, from Moreton 

 Bay near Brisbane northwards round Cape York. It is especially 

 numerous in the sballow Gulf of Carpentaria, but is persecuted 

 everywbere, and moves often from place to place, where it is di- 

 sturbed. 



The young one (A) is about ^ the size of the fullgrown female, 

 and is now stuffed in the Museum at Christiania. The subjoined 

 measurements of the young are therefore only approximate. 

 Total length to centre of tail . . . 1490 mm 



Extreme width of tail 470 „ 



From nostrils to front margin of eye 115 „ 

 Length of fore limbs . . . about 230 „ 



Hair covering of the young. On the muzzle and along the 

 lower lip the hairs form short , but stiff and close bristles, which are 

 longest at the edges of the mouth. The whole body is almost entirely 

 provided with extremely short, isolated hairs, which are partly still 

 functional, party broken or cast off. 



Traces of the latter are to be seen as small shallow pits, in the 

 middle of which, as a rule, a short stump of hair is to be found, 

 which, however, loosens at the slightest touch. The living hairs are 

 firmly attached, about 6 to 7 mm in length, and slenderer than the 

 stiff" stumps in the small pits; at most of the living hairs there is no 

 appearance of the pits, which seem to be formed only when the hair 

 has become old. 



Whether these older and stifi'er hairs have been longer than those 

 at present functional, cannot be seen, as all these older hairs appear 



