Wood Jones — Thalacomys 339 



old coat and llif now, for tlic new liaii's i-cmain I'or a lon^' ^vllil(' considerably 

 shorter lliaii llie old. and tliey are distinctly more Avai-ndy coionred, llie old coat 

 appearini?; lon<i' and silvery, the new coat short and more fawn coionred. 



^riie main <inidin<i- sens(> for food is olfactory, and, dni'in<i' dayli^'ht at least, 

 the ])ow'er of A'ision seems to be ])y no means acute. A ti'rassliopper, even though 

 it be actively movinii', is detected in the daytime by scent before it is detected by 

 sight. WluMi active in the dark the anditory sense is evidently very keen, and 

 althongh the animal will take no notice of a person who remains ([nite still, it wall 

 detect a footfall with remarkable discrimination. 



The animal a]^pears to produce no voeal sonnd save an inspiratory hiss when 

 disturbed. 



The reason for the rapid decrease in numbers of the bilbies is not obvious. 

 Certainly they have been ruthlessly slaughtered in all districts Avithin reach of 

 the more settled areas. Their pelts have been marketed in large numbers for 

 profit, and they have been more wantonly killed for "sport." Many have been 

 maimed or killed in rabbit traps, and possibly many have fallen victims to poison 

 baits. As with all the more defenceless marsupials, the introduced fox has 

 probably played its sinister part. But in the Centre, where the fox is still absent 

 or rare, it would seem that the extraordinary abundance of rabbits, and the 

 consequent shortage of breeding burrows, has been, a very real factor, It may be 

 useless to plead for the preservation of the remnant of the bilbies, but at least it 

 is worth urging that the sale of their pelts should be totally prohibited. 



THALACOMYS Blyth. 



Macrotis Reid, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1886, p. 131. 



Thalacomys Blyth, Cuv. Anim. Kingd., 1840, p. 104; Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. (7), V, 1900, p. 223; Elliot. Publ. Field. Col. Mus. Zool., vii, p. 10, 

 1907. 



Peragalia (Peragalea) Gray, 1843. By Thomas, Lydekker and Cabrera the 

 reference is given as Grey's Australia, App. II, p. 401. Assuming this 

 reference applies to Grey's "Travels in North-West and Western Australia," 

 1841, it is incorrect, as there the animal is listed as Peraiiieles lagotis. By 

 Cabrera the reference is also given for Macrotis, but no mention of this 

 synonym occurs in this work. The reference should be Gray, Hist. Mamm. 

 Brit. Mus., 1843, p. 96. 

 Type. Macrotis lagotis Reid. 

 The distinguishing characters of the genus may be summed up as follows: 



General form light and delicate. Pelage remarkably long and silky. Muzzle 



long and pointed, usually naked for a space upon its dorsal surface pcsterior to 



