THE POUCHED MICE, 169 
Characters.—Size large; form comparatively stout ; fur coarse 
and harsh, with the under-fur very thin. General colour richly 
variegated chestnut, black, and yellow ; back with three black 
stripes ; head dark yellowish-rufous, with a median black stripe 
commencing on the muzzle and passing backwards along the 
neck and back to the rump. Ears small, thinly covered at the 
back with black hairs. Crown and back of head, as well as 
top and sides of neck (save for the median stripe) rich chest- 
nut-red. Chin and chest pale rufous; remainder of under- 
parts yellowish-grey. Fore legs rich rufous like the neck, the 
hind ones darker; fore paws brown, the hinder brown or yel- 
lowish-brown ; soles of hind feet naked, with five pads, that on 
the hallux being, at most, indistinctly divided. Tail evenly 
tapering, long-haired above and on the sides, and short-haired 
beneath ; the long upper hairs maroon-red, like the rump; 
upper surface of the tip black, and the under side rufous or 
brownish. Six teats. The last premolar tooth wanting in 
some specimens. ‘The length of the head and body rather 
less than in P. penicillata (infra, p. 145). 
Distribution North-western New Guinea. 
This species received its earliest name of P. meas owing to 
its having been described from a black or melanistic individual, 
and since, as Mr. Thomas remarks, it is by far the most bril- 
liantly coloured member of the family, if not indeed of the 
entire order, such a misleading title is clearly inadmissible. 
Together with the allied species, it affords a striking example 
of the characteristic brilliant coloration of Papuan animals as 
contrasted with their allies in other parts of the world. 
IV. RED-TAILED POUCHED MOUSE. PHASCOLOGALE 
WALLACII, 
Myoictis wallacet, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1858, p. 112. 
