378 MARSUPIALS. 



slightly compressed and pointed ; they are separated from each other 

 and the canines by wide intervals. 



The Myrmecobians are insectivorous, (1) and shelter themselves 

 in the hollows of trees, frequenting most, it is said, those situations 

 where the Port- Jackson willow abounds. In the structure and propor- 

 tions of its hinder feet, Myrmecobius fasciatus resembles the Dasyurine 

 family ; and in the slightly developed canines, the smooth external 

 surface of the skull, the breadth between the zygomata, and the 

 absence of the interparietal ridges, as well as in its general external 

 form and bushy tail, it offers an especial approximation to the genus 

 Phascogale. 



/3. SALTATORIA. 



Genus Perameles, (Bandicoots). 



5—5 . 1—1 3—3 - 4—4 



— - ; canmes — - ; premolars — : molars — 



3—3 ' 1—1 ' -t 3_3 ' 4_4 



This dental formula characterizes a number of Marsupials com- 

 monly known in Australia by the name of Bandicoots ; the hind 

 legs are longer and stronger than the fore, and exhibit in a well 

 marked manner the feeble and slender conditions of the second and 

 third digits counting from the inside, and the sudden increase in 

 length and strength of the fourth and fifth, or two outer toes, 

 which are chiefly subservient to locomotion. In consequence of this 

 inequality in length in their extremities, the mode of progression 

 in the Bandicoots is by bounds, the hind feet being moved together, 

 and alternately with the fore feet, as in the hare and rabbit, and 

 the crupper is raised higher than the fore-quarter. The teeth which 

 off"er the greatest range of variation in the present genus are the 

 external or posterior incisors and the canines : the molars, also, 

 which originally are quinque-cuspidate, have their points worn away, 

 and present a smooth and oblique grinding surface in some species 

 sooner than in others. 



The Bandicoots which approach nearest to the Myrmecobius 

 in the condition of the incisive and canine teeth, are the Perameles 

 Obesula and P. Gunnii. There is a slight interval between the first 



(1) Mr. Gould informs me that they feed exclusively on ants. 



