144 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 
differ from those of all the preceding forms by the large size 
and pear-shaped contour of the auditory or tympanic bulla, 
situated below the aperture of the internal ear. In the whole 
of the other species these bullae 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 16 
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 aurata, Ogilby, Cat. Austral. Mamm., p. 23 (1892). 
Characters——Size small; form rather stout; fur coarse and 
spiny. General colour rich golden-brown pencilled with 
black ; under parts white. Length of head and body about 
8% inches. 
Distribution.—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. 
XI. SHORT-NOSED BANDICOOT. PERAMELES OBESULA, 
Didelphis obesula, Shaw, Nat. Miscell., vol. viii, pl. eexeviii. 
(1793). 
