344 Records of the S A. Museum 



Australian lial)ita1. It is, t lici-d'oi-c, not at ail niilikcly thai IIk- animal which 

 was forwarded by Mr. Hillicr docs nol rcpi-cscnt the Soulh Australian animal 

 when we consider Soutli Australia as a whole. The type 7'. stKjilfa should be 

 regarded as a northern form, oiu' wliieli lives in the i'e<iion of the Lake Eyre 

 basin, jirohahly from somewhere near Miller's Creek, in the S. and W. to Cooper's 

 Creek in the X. and E., and Charlotte Waters in the N. T. lagolis is the form 

 which had for its habitat the more watered and more fertile districts of the 

 southern portion of South Australia. T. sagitta is the representative of the genus 

 in the more arid central regions. Of the external characters, Oldfield Thomas 

 says: "Externally, apart from the (!orresponding difference in size, there is little 

 to distinguish the two forms. On the whole T. sof/iiia is a little paler in tone, 

 the black baud on the tail is slightly shorter, being shorter instead of longer than 

 the white end, and the feet are paler below, the black oidy extending about a third 

 of their length underneath the heel." 



The general specific characters of 7'. sagitta may be summed up as follows : 



External Characters. Size medium, head and body length being about 

 300 mm. and upwards. General body colour as in T. lagotk, h\\\ a little paler. 

 Manus white. Pes white above; dark below in the i)osterior third only. Tail 

 with the black portion shorter than the white portion. 



Cranial Characters. Skull fairly large; basal length 70 mm. or more. 

 Muscular crests not very well developed. The posterior f molar) portion of 

 the palate only very slightly rounded in outline; the molars arranged in almost 

 straight rows, which diverge posteriorly. The posterior end of the palate 

 terminates at the last molar tooth. The posterior palatine vacuities reach from 

 about the central point of the middle premolar to about the central point of the 

 second molar. The nasal bones extend backwards so that their posterior ends 

 come to within about 4 mm. of the line joining the lachrymal foramina. See 

 figs. 858, 855. 85(i, and 857. 



Dental Characters. Molars relatively large. But little space between the 

 lingual margins of adjacent teeth. From the front of the canine to the back of 

 M"* is a distance of 8(5 mm., or slightly more. 



Of T. sagitta, Oldfield Thomas reports that there are five skulls in the British 

 Museum; a good example (No. M. 1622) is in the South Australian Museum, and 

 I have some others, all obtained from the dessicated remains of animals long dead 

 and often fragmentary, at Miller's Creek and at Coward Springs. 



According to Mr. Hillier, the Diari name (Cooper's Creek) is "Kapita," 

 and, as Oldfield Thomas points out, it is almost certainly the "T'rgarta" of the 

 Charlotte Waters blacks. Tt is also probably the "Thulka" of the Kukata. 



