﻿TRUE BANDICOOTS. 139 



to the mouth piece by piece. In consequence of the extreme 

 delicacy and thinness of its integuments, this species is one of 

 the most difficult of Mammals to skin. 



II. GUx\N S BANDICOOT. PERAMELES GUNNI. 



Peraineles gunni, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1838, p. i; Thomas, 

 Cat. Marsup. Brit. Mus., p. 245 (1888). 



[Plale XXI.) 



Size large ; form slender; fur soft, not spinose ; muzzle long 

 and slender ; ears large and pointed, reaching, when laid for- 

 ward, to beyond the eyes, their backs yellowish-brown, with a 

 darker blotch on the anterior portion of the terminal half. 

 General colour grizzled yellowish-brown ; under-parts white or 

 yellowish-white ; sides of rump with four transverse vertical 

 stripes. Soles of hind feet hairy and black posteriorly, naked 

 and white anteriorly, with small rounded striated pads at the 

 bases of the third and fourth toes. Tail very short and slender, 

 white except for a short portion of the base of the upper sur- 

 face. Eight teats. Length of head and body about 16 inches ; 

 of tail less than 4 inches. 



Distribution. — Tasmania, and probably the coast region of 

 South-Eastern Victoria. 



This species, according to an account given by its discoverer, 

 Ronald Gunn, is abundant in all parts of Tasmania, where it 

 burrows in the loose soil in search of roots and worms. The 

 harm that it inflicts on gardeners is sufficiently indicated by the 

 circumstance that on one occasion a Bandicoot of this species 

 completely destroyed a whole collection of imported bulbs. 



The white transverse bands ornamenting its hind-quarters 

 afford a ready means of distinguishing between Gunn's Ban- 

 dicoot and the nearly allied species next mentioned. 



