334 Records of the S.A. Museum 



of tlic iijinic in uciicrjil use ;iiii()ii<i' the Kiil;;it;i lil;i('l\s. Fiii'llicr into Western 

 Ai!s1r;ili;i the lunne cluin^'cs 1o "(I;il<i'li('i1('s, '' " (l;il<iil I's, " oi' "(hilyilcs. " All 

 these iijiUK's ;irc, liowcN'cr, soni('\\h;i1 lociil in 1 lieir nsjiii'e. MMie tiiosi <:'enerf|] tei'iii, 

 by Avliich 1lie aninKiIs seem to luive l)een Icnowii lo l!ie colonists in ;ill ltie States, 

 is "l)ill)y." 



Unfortunately the rabbit l)an(lief)()ts are not only rare animals to-day, bnt, as 

 is the ease witli so many forms that were common enongh only tAventy years ago, 

 the amonnt of jireserved material existing' in Australian Mnsenms is sadly 

 inadeqnate. To provide deseriptions based on the examination of a thoroughly 

 satisfaetory series of skins and skidls wonld be a very diffienlt task for the worker 

 in Australia. In the modern study of Mammalogy it is becoming increasingly 

 important that the characters of a species should be determined from the 

 examination of a large number of individuals, the provenence of which individuals 

 should be ])recisely known. It cannot be said that the Australian Mammals, 

 even the commonest species, are represented in sufficiently long series in 

 Australian institutions to make work, in keeping with modern requirements, at 

 all easy to carry out in Australia. 



In some respects, therefore, this paper must be regarded as being merely 

 tentative, for T am fully aware that the material T have been able to examine has 

 been too limited in amount to make my conclusions as absolute as is desirable in 

 sttidies of this kind. It is possible that the accumulation of further specimens 

 may invalidate some of the deductions here ]nit forward; for the variability of 

 aniinals Avhose hal)itat is in the more central Australian regions is well recognized. 

 The variability in adult size of animals living in the Centre is a very remarkable 

 phenomenon, and some of the species of the genus Thahicomijs have been 

 established largely upon the size of the animal. It has therefore been my aim to 

 sort out certain cranial features which serve to distinguish the known species, 

 and so avoid so far as possible attaching importance to features Avhich are Avell 

 known to l)e unstable in the environment in which these animals live. In this 

 vray it is hoped that the necessarily small amount of material examined is 

 compensated for, and meanwhile this paper may serve its purpose by providing 

 a basis for future workers by gathering together the descriptions of all the known 

 species within the compass of a single short article, and by providing figures of 

 the main features of their cranial architecture. 



In general, the bionomics of all the species may be taken as being similar, 

 and in the following notes the individual species will not be differentiated unless 

 it is known that their habits differ in some respects. Observations on wild 

 specimens mostly relate to T. sagitta ; whilst those observed in captivity have 

 been T. higotis, and the new species T. nigripes. 



