Zooiogicai Society. 521 



Mr. Waterhouse details at length the peculiarities of the denti- 

 tion and other structural characters of the animal under considera- 

 tion, and particularly notices the statement of Lieut. Dale that, when 

 it was killed, the tongue was protruded from the mouth to the ex- 

 tent of tv,'o inches beyond the tip of the nose, its breadth being 

 three sixteenths of an inch; which circumstance, combined with the 

 dentition of the animal, confirms him in the belief that it feeds vp3n 

 ants. With respect to its immediate afRnities he confesses himself 

 at a loss, in skinning the specimen, the part where the pouch 

 would be placed in a marsupial animal, has been so mutilated as to 

 render it difficult to determine whether or not it possessed one : it 

 appears, however, to have been a female, and to have two mamma 

 and the remains of a pouch. Mr. Waterhouse is of opinion that it 

 will prove to be allied to the genus Phascogale ; and there are also, 

 he states, points of resemblance between it and Tupaia, as well as 

 with the ground Squirrels, the genus Tamias of modem authors. 



The species Mr. Waterhouse proposes to name Myrmecobius fas- 

 cUttus : he describes it as follows ; *' Length from the nose to the 

 root of the tail (measuring along the curve of the back) ten inches ; 

 of the head, from the tip of the nose to the base of the ear, one inch 

 and seven eighths; of the tail six inches and a quarter. The colour 

 above is reddish ochre, interspersed with white hairs, the posterior 

 half of the body being adorned with alternate black and white trans- 

 verse fasciae, disposed in a manner somewhat similar to those of Thy- 

 lacinus cynocephalus. The under parts of the body are yellowish 

 white ; the anterior legs of the same colour on their inner sides, and 

 of a pale buff colour externally ; and the posterior legs of a pale 

 buff colour, with the fore part of the tibiae whitish, and the sole en- 

 tirely bare. The hairs of the tail are mixed black, white and red- 

 dish ochre, each of these colours predominating in different parts. 

 The reddish hue of the fore part of the body is gradually blended 

 into the black, which is the prevailing colour of the posterior half, 

 and which is adorned with nine white fasciae ; the first of these 

 fasciae (which is indistinct) commencing rather before the middle of 

 the body, and being, in common with the second, interrupted on the 

 back by the ground colour of the body ; the third, fourth, and last 

 extending uninterruptedly from side to side ; and the fifth, sixth, 

 seventh and eighth, extending over the back, passing without coming 

 into contact, and thus as it were dovetailing, with those of the op- 

 posite side. The hair on the head is very short and of a bro\vnish 

 hue above, (being composed of a mixture of black and reddish-brown 

 with a few white hairs); and whitish beneath. The nose and lips 

 are blackish ; and there are a few long black hairs springing from 

 under the eyes and from the sides of the muzzle. The body is co- 

 vered with hair of two kinds ; the outer of which is moderately long, 

 rather coarse, and compact on the back and fore parts of the body ; 

 but over the haunches, and on the under surface, where the pouch 

 is situated in the Marsupials, the hair is long. The under fur is 

 short, fine and rather scanty. The tail is furnished throughout with 

 long hairs." 



Third Scries. Vol.9. No. .57. Supplement. Dec. 1836. 3 R 



