NOTORYCTES. 5 
Family IL—NOTORYCTIDA. 
Limbs subequal, short, and very strong. Fore feet with five 
digits ; hind feet asyndactylous, with five toes ; hallux clawed; 
the other toes unequal in size. No visible external eyes. Ears 
without conch. Clavicle well developed. Chevron bones present. 
Genus I.—NOTORYCTES, Stirling (1891). 
Dorsal aspect of snout covered by a hard horny shield, which 
is divided into two segments by a transverse ridge. Mouth ven- 
tral in position. Ear openings present, but almost completely 
concealed by the overhanging fur. Tail hard, tough, and leathery, 
marked by conspicuous annular rings, thick at its insertion but 
rapidly decreasing in size towards its extremity, which is blunt 
and knob-like. The four inner toes of both fore and hind feet 
clawed, the fifth with a short, broad, horny nail. Palms and soles 
naked, covered with tough, leathery, wrinkled skin ; the latter 
traversed by oblique folds. The claws of the third and fourth 
digits enormously developed; those of the corresponding toes 
curved outwards and backwards. Pouch opening backwards. 
Mamme two, minute. 
Vertebrae.—C. 7, 1). 15, L, 4, 8. 6. C. 12 = 44. 
*)° 1.2.3.4 0 1.0.3.4 1.2.3.4 a 9 
Dentition.—I. 23 C. 0 P; 1.0.3.40r0? M. 1234 x s4= 40 to 42. 
Habits.—Terrestrial ; fossorial ; insectivorous. 
Note.—The axis and four succeeding cervical vertebre are firmly 
ankylosed together, as are also all the sacral vertebre. In the 
dental formula given above I have preferred to consider the teeth, 
which Dr. Stirling figures as an upper and lower canine, as a 
fourth upper and third lower incisor. 
1. Notorycres TyPHLOPS, Stirling (1888). 
Marsupial Mole. 
Size small, form stout. Fur long, soft, of a bright lustrous 
silken appearance ; sometimes darker across the loins ; a patch of 
darkish red fur surrounding the pouch ; interior of pouch sparsely 
lined with reddish fawn-colored hairs. Upper surface of tail 
clothed with fur similar to that of the back on its anterior half; the 
sides and lower surface naked. 
Dimensions.—Head and body about five inches ; tail about one 
and one-fifth inch. 
Habitat.—Central South Australia. 
References,—Stirling, Trans. Roy. Soc. South Austr. 1888, p. 
21, and 1891, p. 154, pls. ii. — ix. 
Note.—In the attempt to formulate the above divisional and 
generic definitions for Dr. Stirling’s Motoryctes typhlops, I have 
