336 Records of the S.A, Museum 



The diet of the liilby is commonly said to Ix' "bulbous roots" (Ki-efft), "grass, 

 fruits, and insects" (Lydekker), biil 1 doubt very much if any of the species is 

 at all given to eating roots, grass, or fruits. It is true that in districts where 

 they live it is common to see little holes scratched around the roots of vegetation, 

 but it is very doul)tful if these are made in order to ol)tain roots. It seems much 

 more likely that insects are the ol)ject of the search, iu ca])tivity I have been 

 unable to persuade them to eat i-oots or fruit; ])ut bread or cake, meat raw or 

 cooked, insects, snails, birds, and mice are all readily eaten. Those that I have 

 observed are far more carnivorous than any of the ])an(licoots (Isoodon or 

 Peramdcs) that 1 have had living iu captivity. 



The members of the genus TJi<(laco)nys ditt'er from the rest of the Percunelidae 

 in their truly fossorial mode of life. Isoodon and J'rraincles will both scratch 

 out shallow runways, but none of the species with which 1 am acc^uainted ever 

 excavates real burrows in which to live. Thalacomys, on the other hand, passes 

 most of its time in the depths of a burrow of its own making. These burrows are 

 still to be seen in some nmnbers in certain districts to the north of the Trans- 

 continental Railway from Port Augusta to Perth. The typical burrow, as it is 

 excavated in this district, is easily identified, not only Ijy the track of the animal 

 and the characteristic mark made by its tail, l)ut by the actual construction of 

 the burrow itself. Unlike many burrowing animals, it does not make an exit 

 and an entrance hole. The burrow has a single opening, and from the mouth it 

 descends with a fairly steep but ever-opening spiral to a depth of five feet or 

 more. The spiral construction seems to be universal, and the work involved in 

 digging out a burrow is very considerable, for the animal by no means always 

 selects those spots where the soil is loose, as Waterhouse affirms (p. 361). 

 According to Sir Baldwin Spencer, T. mlvor differs from the other members of 

 the genus in that "during the Avinter months it lies within a foot or so of the 

 entrance of its burrow and only uses the inner chamber during the summer"" 

 (p. 9). 7\ sagittd, T. nigrijics, and 7'. Ja/jotis seem to occupy the furthest recess 

 of the burrow at all times, and have to be dug out, Avhereas the blacks capture 

 T. minor by stamping in the burrow behind it. Not only does T. sagitta spend 

 the whole day at the bottom of its burrow, but in the region to the south and 

 west of Lake Eyre, where alone I have field experience of it, it spends the whole 

 of the cold weather, for it never comes abroad in the evenings of the short but 

 sharp winter. 



Jt is a feature not confined to the burrows of Thalaconiys, for the homes of 

 many creatures which live underground in the arid Centre show the same 

 characteristic — that, though maybe a barrow load of earth must have been 



