Oll a Collectiou of Mamnials iVom Central and Northern Queensland. 933 



The teeth. 



It has already beeii shown by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, in: Encycl. 

 Brit. vol. IX (p. 729), that Gkay's description uf the dontition of this 

 species is erroneous, and tbat the tooth, described by that author as 

 the Upper ii , is the canine. Our specimen leave no room for doubt 

 on this subject, as this latter tooth lies entirely in the maxillary, and 

 is placed behind the suture. 



Besides, it is doubtlessly most natural to regard this, as a rule, 

 low, soniewhat flat-crowned and cylindrical tooth in the lower jaw, 

 which in the Phalangers is situated next to tiie long incisor, as a 

 canine, although this in most, (where it is not entirely wanting) is 

 pressed quite close to the root of the incisor (in Phalangista vulpecula 

 it is, in most individuals, more separate, and in this species its cha- 

 racter of a canine is seen more clearly). The small teeth, present 

 behind the canine, are therefore premolars, but not, as in Gray's 

 description of the present species, incisors. 



These lower canines and premolars are, however, but little con- 

 stant. In our specimen the canine is present on the right side, but 

 wanting on the left; it has a broad crown, is flat, and twice as large, 

 as the three following premolars. Of these latter, ^ i is a little larger 

 than the rest, but all are very small, although distinctly developed. 

 All are close, thus not resembling Gray's type-specimen, in which they 

 were all placed a little apart. 



Thomas (1, c. p. 729) records as a generic character, that all 

 the premolars in the lower jaw are deciduous. In our specimen all 

 are present, and the whole dental series uninterrupted. In the upper 

 jaw, p 2 is unusually small, almost rudimentary, (and may be occasio- 

 nally wanting). 



12 3 12 3 



The dentition is, according to Thomas, i ' ' - c {, p ' ' 



1 . U . U, 1 . i& . o 



In our specimen the dentition is: 



* T. c T(^), P h '^ i (39). 



49. Acrohata pygmaea (Shaw) 1794. 



Didelpliys pygmaea Shaw, Zool. New. Holl., pl. 2, p. 5 (1794), 

 Pelaurista {jicrnbata) pygmaea Desm., Mamnialog. pt. I, p. 270 (1820). 

 ^crobales pygmaeiis Geay, List. Spec. Manim. Brit. Mus. p. 83 (1843), 



