THE BANDICOOTS 1437 



its small and somewhat rounded ears, the naked extremity of the muzzle, and the 

 coarse and rough hair; the color being uniform dark grizzled grayish brown. About 

 one- fourth larger than this species is the common wombat (P. mitchelli}, from New 

 South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, in which the length of the head and 

 body is about thirty inches, while the color may vary from yellow, through yellow 

 mingled with black, to nearly pure black. The third species is the hairy-nosed 

 wombat (P. latifrons), from South Australia, intermediate in size between the other 

 two, from which it differs by its longer and more pointed ears, hairy muzzle, and 

 soft silky hair. 



All the three species seem to agree in their habits, and are exclu- 

 sively herbivorous, living either in burrows excavated by themselves, 

 or in clefts and crannies of rocks. L,ike most Marsupials, they are exclusively noc- 

 turnal, and their food consists of grass, other herbage, and roots. They walk with 

 a peculiar shuffling gait, and utter either a hissing sound or a short grunt when irri- 

 tated. In disposition they are shy and gentle; although their powerful incisor teeth 

 are capable of inflicting severe bites. On the rare occasions that these animals are 

 seen abroad in the daytime, they suffer themselves to be caught with ease, and often 

 make no resistance after their capture. 



THE BANDICOOTS 

 Family PERAMELID^& 



All the members of the preceding families are characterized by the presence of 

 not more than three pairs of upper incisor teeth, and also by those of the lower jaw 

 being reduced to a single functional pair of large size, which are invariably inclined 

 forward. On account of this single pair of functional lower incisor teeth, they are 

 collectively termed Diprotodonts. The upper canine or tusk is small in all the 

 group, and the corresponding lower tooth absent or represented by a rudiment. On 

 the other hand, in the remaining families of the order the incisor teeth, as shown in 

 the cut on p. 1440, are of a more normal type; that is to say, they are numerous, 

 and the innermost pair is not greatly developed at the expense of the others. The 

 tusks are large and prominent; and whereas in the Diprotodonts the molar teeth 

 have broad and often squared crowns,, surmounted by transverse ridges or blunt 

 tubercles, those of the present group have sharp cusps, and are generally more or 

 less triangular in form, thus indicating a partially or wholly carnivorous diet. On 

 account of the number of their lower incisor teeth, the name of Polyprotodonts has 

 been suggested for this second great group of the Marsupials, which occupy the 

 place in the order held by the Carnivores and Insectivores among the Placental 

 Mammals. Instead of being restricted to the Australasian region, the Polyproto- 

 donts are represented in America by the opossums; while in former epochs they had ap- 

 parently a world-wide distribution, and included some of the oldest Mammals known. 



The bandicoots are small or medium-sized animals of fossorial habits, living 

 either on insects or a mixed diet, and are readily characterized by the structure of 

 their hind-feet. They have long and sharply-pointed noses, and the pouch is com- 



