Wood Jones — Thalacomys 351 



Dimensions of Skull. 



Type ^ Adult ^ A. 



Greatest lenji'th 86-5 80 



Basal lenpili .. .: 81 72-5 



Greatest 1)r(>adtli 35 32 



Nasals, leiioth 40 33 



breadth 8 7 



Intertemporal 13 12 



Palate, length 50 48 



,', breadth, outside M^ 20 20 



. „ lireadth. inside M^ 12 12 



Palatine foramen .. 10 10 



C— M4 37 34-5 



Ml— M3 13 . 12 



THALACOMYS LEUCURUS Oldfield Thomas, 1887. 



Peragalr Iriicuni Thos., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (.1), xix, 1887, p. 397, and Cat. 



Mars. & Mon. Brit. Mus., 1888, p. 225; Lydek., Mars. & Mon., 1894, p. 134; 



Oo'ilby, C^at. Aust. Mamm., 1892, p. 23. 

 Thal(icfli))iis Icucuni.s Cabrera, Gen. Mamm. Mon. & Mars., 1919, p. 82. 



The fnll description of this species being- in a standard work, the specific 

 characters Avill l)e given here only in summary. 



External Characters, ^^ize small, head and body length of type specimen 

 (young animal) being 142 mm. General ])ody colour uniform ]nde yellowish 

 fawn. Manns white. Pes white. Tail white. 



Cranial Characters. Skull small and delicate ; basal length 45 mm. 



Dental Characters. Molars small. 



The type specimen, a very yonng male, was sent by Mr. Beazley, who was 

 at that time employed as taxidermist to the South Australian Museum, to Oldfield 

 Thomas. The precise locality from which the specimen came is not known, and 

 the example, so far as 1 can ascertain, remains unique. 



Nevertheless I have definite information that a fawn-coloured rabbit bandi- 

 coot was well known to men who were in Western Australia in the comparatively 

 earl.y gold mining days. Sir Baldwin Spencer, who has made repeated efforts to 

 procure further specimens, has hitherto failed to come across any trace of it. 

 Possibly it may yet be found in the vast region of the western portion of the 

 Centre. 



Summary. 



The individual characters as they are present in the different members of 

 the genus may be tabulated as follows : 



