188 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY. 
placed ; apertures of ears almost completely concealed by over- 
hanging fur. The four inner toes of both fore and hind feet 
clawed, the fifth with a short, broad, horny nail; claws of the 
third and fourth front toes enormously enlarged ; those of the 
corresponding hind toes curving outwards and backwards, and 
the toes of these feet decreasing in size from the second to the 
fifth ; soles of both pairs of feet naked, and covered with tough, 
leathery, wrinkled skin, traversed in the hinder pair by oblique 
folds. ‘Tail very short, hard, tough, and leathery, marked by 
conspicuous rings, thick at the base, but rapidly decreasing in 
size towards the extremity, which is blunt and knob-like. 
Pouch opening backwards; two minute teats. Two pairs of 
premolar teeth in each jaw, which, like the three pairs of incisor 
and single canine, are very minute. In the skeleton the five 
middle vertebrz of the neck are completely welded together, 
as are likewise certain vertebree in the region of the haunch. 
The single representative of this genus and family, which 
has been only recently made known to science, is a burrowing, 
Mole-like creature, standing quite alone among the Marsu- 
pials of Australia. That it is a primitive type is sufficiently 
indicated by the triangular, or tritubercular form of its upper 
molar teeth, which are quite unlike those of any other living 
member of the order, and likewise by the presence of chevron- 
bones beneath the vertebrze of the tail. In adaptation to its 
particular mode of life the creature is, however, in some 
respects markedly specialised. 
Perhaps the most remarkable feature in connection with 
this animal is its curious resemblance, both as regards the 
structure of its molar teeth, its external form, and its mode of 
life, to the Golden Moles (Chrysochloris) of South Africa, 
which belong to the insectivorous order of placental Mammals, 
So marked, indeed, is this resemblance, that it must evidently 
be due either to parallel development induced by similar 
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