132 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY. 
foot was long thought to indicate affinity with the Diprotodont 
sub-division; but, as Mr. Thomas rightly observes, judging from 
the wholly Polyprotodont character of the rest of their organisa- 
tion, even including the bones of the ankle, which present a 
much greater resemblance to those of the Dasyures than to 
those of the Phalangers, it seems probable that this view is 
erroneous, and that, as already mentioned, the syndactylous 
hind foot has been independently developed in the two groups. 
We must accordingly regard the Bandicoots as a highly specia- 
lised offshoot from the Dasyures. 
In habits the Bandicoots are fossorial and insectivorous, 
although many subsist on a mixed diet. 
THE RABBIT-BANDICOOTS. GENUS PERAGALE. 
Peragalea, Gray, in Grey’s Australia, Appendix, vol. ii., p. 401 
(1841). 
Form light and delicate; muzzle long and narrow; ears 
very long ; fore feet with the first and third toes rudimentary 
and clawless, and the three middle ones long and furnished 
with strong curved claws ; no trace of the first toe (hallux) of 
the hind foot externally ; hind limbs much longer than the 
front pair; soles of hind feet hairy; tail long, and distinctly 
crested on the upper surface of the terminal half. Five pairs. 
of upper and three of lower incisor teeth ; molars quadrangu- 
lar or rounded in section, but differing markedly in structure 
in the two species of the genus. 
The Rabbit-Bandicoots are confined to Australia, exclusive 
of Tasmania, and are omnivorous in their diet. 
I. COMMON RABBIT-BANDICOOT. PERAGALE LAGOTIS, 
Perameles (Macrotis) lagotis, Reid, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1836, p. 
129. 
