GENUS OF MARSUPIAL ANIMALS. 151 
rally and remote from each other. The space on each side between the last pair of 
incisors of the upper jaw and the canines is very considerable, and when the jaws are 
closed is occupied by the lower canines. The false molars of both jaws are also remote 
from each other and from the canines; in fact, the only teeth which are in positive 
contact are the two last molars of the upper jaw, and the three posterior molars of the 
lower. 
The molar teeth are so little produced that their apices are scarcely visible until the 
gum is removed ; they are very weak, and the part protruded through the gum consists 
of small tubercles’. 
Species. MyrMecosius FASCIATUS. 
Myrm. colore ochraceo-fulvo, pilis albis sparsim intermiztis ; dorso dimidio posteriore fasciis 
transversalibus nigris atque albis alternatem ornato; guld, pectore, abdomine, artu- 
busque interne subflavescentibus ; artubus externé fulvis ; tibiis anticé albescentibus ; 
caudd fere corporis longitudinem equante, indutd pilis nigris, albis, atque fulvis com- 
mictis. 
The reddish hue of the fore part of the body is gradually blended into the black, 
which is the prevailing colour of the posterior half, and which is adorned with nine 
white fascie. The first, which is indistinct, commences about midway between the 
head and the root of the tail, and is interrupted on the back by the ground colour of 
the body, and so likewise is the second fascia. The third and fourth fascie extend un- 
interruptedly from side to side of the body; the four following are interrupted on the 
back by the dark colouring of the interstices, which divides them in an oblique manner, 
so that they appear to dovetail with each other. The ninth fascia is uninterrupted. 
The fur consists of two kinds of hair; the under hair is scanty, and of a whitish- 
grey colour: the upper hair is rather coarse, short and adpressed on the anterior 
parts: long on the posterior and under parts of the body; the longer hairs on the 
back are for the most part of a flattened and pointed form ; those on the anterior part 
of the back are generally black at the base, and of a fulvous colour at the apex. The 
hair on the head is very short, and of a brownish hue above, being composed of a 
mixture of black, fulvous, and a few white hairs ; there are a few black hairs springing 
from the sides of the muzzle and from under each eye. The hair on the tail is long 
and rather bushy; most of the hairs on the under part are fulvous at the base and 
white at the tip; on the upper side of the tail they are generally black at the base and 
white at the apex. 
In the second specimen which I had an opportunity of examining the colouring is 
not so bright, and the markings are less distinct, and differ in their disposition. The 
' Having found in the animal said to have been brought from Van Diemen’s Land four more molars’ (two 
in each jaw) than in that brought by Lieutenant Dale, I thought it advisable to take the former as my guide 
in describing the dentition. 
VOL. II.—PART II, x 
