THE PIG-FOOTED BANDICOOT, 147 
Characters.—Size small; form delicate; fur coarse and straight, 
but not spiny. Ears thinly haired, dull chestnut-brown behind, 
darkening towards the tip. General colour coarse grizzled 
grey, with a tinge of fawn; under-parts white. Limbs long 
and slender ; tail short, black above, grey on the sides and 
beneath. Length of head and body about 10 inches ; of tail 
4 inches. 
Distribution. Western New South Wales and Victoria, and 
South and West Australia. 
Habits. — First described from an accidentally mutilated 
example, this curious animal was supposed to be tail- 
less, and was, therefore, named Cheropus ecaudatus, but 
on the acquisition of other specimens, showing the pre- 
“sence of a well-developed tail, the name was very properly 
changed to cas¢anofis, in allusion to the chestnut colour of the 
ears. In size the Pig-footed Bandicoot may be compared toa 
small Rabbit. Writing of its first discovery in 18 36, Mitchell 
observes that “the most remarkable incident of this day’s 
journey was the discovery of an animal of which I had seen 
only a head in a fossil state in the limestone caves of the 
Wellington Valley, where, from its very singular form, I sup- 
posed it to belong to some extinct species. The chief pecu- 
liarity then observed was the broad head and very long slender 
snout, which resembled the narrow neck of a wide bottle 5 but 
in the living animal the absence of a tail was still more re- 
markable. The feet, and especially the fore legs, were also 
singularly formed, the latter resembling those of a Pig; and the 
Marsupial opening was downwards and not upwards, as in the 
Kangaroo and others of that class of animals. This quadruped 
was discovered by the natives on the ground; but on being 
chased it took refuge in a hollow tree, from which they took it 
alive, all of them declaring that they had never before seen an 
animal of the kind. This was when the party had com- 
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