On a Collection of Mammals from Central and Northern Queensland. gß]^ 



It raay possibly be open to doubt whether the genus ÄntecMnus can 

 be separated from Phascologale upon sufficient characters. Accord- 

 ing to Krefft (in : Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1866, p. 432), Äntechinus 

 has „the articulating condyle of the lower jaw more elevated than in, 

 the genus Phascologale^'', a feature, which, at all events, is not exhibi- 

 ted by any of the specimens examined by me. Of other external cha- 

 racters, the raost important is, that Phascologale wants the poiich, whilst 

 this „is present in Äntechinus'''', a feature, which, however, seems scar- 

 cely to have been fully investigated or confirmed in all the species. 

 Fiually Phascologale has a bushy tail, whilst in Äntechinus the hairs 

 of the tail are said to be smooth and close; but the hairs at the tip 

 of the tail are in fact (though almost imperceptibly) lengthened also 

 in some species of Äntechinus. 



Of the two skins of Ph. flavipes C appears to be a typical spe- 

 cimen, answering pretty nearly to Waterhouse's description (in: 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1837, p. 75). The colour of the body is above 

 a rusty brown with longer black interspersed hairs ; the sides are more 

 purely rusty red. The feet are ochre coloured, without a trace of black. 

 The Upper part of the head is somewhat more grey than the back, 

 caused by a mixture of black and whitish hairs. A whitish portion 

 around the eyes (as in Waterhouse's original specimen) can not be 

 observed. The lips are grey, or about the same colour as the feet. 

 The tail is brownish red; its lower surface is more reddish, the tip 

 gradually becoming blackish. 



The specimen B corresponds in its colouring most closely to 

 Gray's Äntechinus leucogaster (Gould Mamm. Austr. Part 6, 1854), and 

 although its colouring is thus somewhat unlike the first specimen, they 

 otherwise generally agree, and the skulls of both specimen (and of A) 

 are in all respects alike. The whole upper surface of the head and 

 body, together with the tail is of a dark greyish brown, with but a 

 slight mixture of red. The sides are somewhat more reddish, the lower 

 part more grey. The feet are, however, more purely red, as in C 

 The tail is somewhat darker, the whole outer half being blackish. 



According to the opinion of Mr. Thomas, these two specimens are 

 of interest, because they represent respectively the two subspecies, into 

 which he divides the true Ph. flavipes, and therefore show exactly 

 where the ranges of the two forms meet. C is Ph. flavipes typica, 

 B Ph. ßavipes leucogastra. 



