THE MARSUPIAL MOLES. 187 
it is reported to ascend trees with facility, and to be partially 
arboreal in its habits; while it always frequents well-wooded 
districts. In capturing Ants, after the nest has been laid open 
by its fore paws, the long extensile tongue is protruded among 
the insects, and held there till a mass of them have collected 
upon it, when it is quickly retracted, and the food swallowed. 
The creature will, however, also eat insects of other kinds, and 
even, it is said, grass. 
There have been recently discovered on the palate of the 
Banded Ant-eater traces of horny structures, which apparently 
correspond to the so-called horny teeth of the Duck-bill among 
the egg-laying Mammals. Since there is also a certain 
similarity between the molar teeth of these otherwise widely 
sundered Mammals, this is a fact of some interest, as tending 
to suggest a distant relationship between this primitive Mar- 
supial and the still lower Monotremes. 
THE MARSUPIAL MOLES. FAMILY 
NOTORYCTIDA. 
Three pairs of incisor teeth in both jaws. Limbs subequal, 
short, stout, and strong, each with five distinct toes; in the 
hind foot a well-developed and clawed first toe, or hallux, not 
opposable to the others, which are unequal in size. No exter- 
nally visible ear-conchs or eyes. Collar-bones, or clavicles, 
well-developed; and chevron-bones present on the inferior 
aspect of the vertebrze of the tail. Upper molar teeth triangular, 
with three cusps. 
THE MARSUPIAL MOLES. GENUS NOTORYCTES. 
Notoryctes, Stirling, Trans. Roy. Soc. South Australia, 1891, 
Pp. 154. 
Upper aspect of muzzle covered with a hard horny shield, 
divided into two portions by a transverse ridge ; mouth centrally 
