﻿T44 Allen's naturalist's literary. 



differ from those of all the preceding forms by the large size 

 and pear-shaped contour of the auditory or tympanic bullae, 

 situated below the aperture of the internal ear. In the whole 

 of the other species these bullee are small, hemispherical, and 

 often more or less imperfectly ossified. 



Characters. — Size large ; form rather stout ; fur short, coarse, 

 and spiny. General colour coarsely grizzled yellow and black ; 

 under-parts white or yellowish-white. Ears short and broad, 

 their backs brown, narrowly margined with white. Feet brown, 

 or mixed brown and white ; soles of hind feet naked and 

 coarsely wrinkled. Tail rather long, brown above and white 

 beneath. Eight teats. Length of head and body about i6 

 inches; of tail 7 inches. 



Distribution. — Northern Australia. 



X. GOLDEN BANDICOOT, PERAMELES AURATA. 



Perameles auratus, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. South Wales, 



ser. 2, vol. ii., p. 551 (1887). 

 Perameles aiirata, Ogilby, Cat. Austral. ALamm., p. 23 (1892). 



Characters. — Size small ; form rather stout ; fur coarse and 

 spiny, (yeneral colour rich golden-brown pencilled with 

 black ; under parts white. Length of head and body about 

 8)^ inches. 



Distrihution.—North-Western Australia. 



In the British Museum Catalogue of Marsupials this Bandi- 

 coot was identified with the preceding, from which (assuming 

 the type specimen to be adult) it appears sufficiently distin- 

 guished by its greatly inferior size. 



XL SHORT-NOSED BANDICOOT. PERAMELES OP.ESULA. 



Didelphis obesula, Shaw, Nat. Miscell, vol. viii., pi. ccxcviii. 

 (1793)- 



