THE BANDICOOTS 1439 



although variable, are never of enormous length, and the tapering cylindrical tail is 

 devoid of a crest of hair near its extremity. In all, the build is stout and clumsy, 

 and there is no great disproportion between the fore and hind-limbs. The various 

 species of bandicoots inhabit Australia and Papua; one of the best known being 

 Gunn's bandicoot (/". gunni*}, from Tasmania. The length of the head and body in 

 this creature is about sixteen inches, and that of the tail four inches. It belongs to 

 a group characterized by the ears being long and pointed, reaching as far as the eyes 

 when turned forward; and also by the hinder half of the sole of the foot being cov- 

 ered with hair. The fur is soft, and of a general grizzled yellowish-brown color 

 above, with four or more pale vertical bands, separated by dark brown intervals on 

 the rump; the chin and under parts being white or yellowish white. The smaller 

 short-nosed bandicoot (P. obesula), which is common to Australia and Tasmania, 

 represents a second group, in which the ears are very short and rounded at the tip, 

 the soles of the hind-feet completely naked, and the fur intermingled with short 

 spines. These two groups are closely connected by the Papuan representatives of 

 the genus. 



Bandicoots are the commonest of the Australian carnivorous Marsupials, and 

 are cordially detested by the colonists on account of the damage they do to gardens 

 and cultivated fields. Omnivorous in their diet, consuming, with equal gusto, roots, 

 bulbs, berries, fallen fruits, or other vegetable substances, as well as insects and 

 worms, they are chiefly nocturnal, and pass the day either in holes or hollows or 

 logs; to which retreat they at once fly when pursued. In addition to their burrows, 

 some of the species at least construct nests. 



The rabbit bandicoot (Peragale lagotis), together with a closely- 

 Bandicoot a ^ ec ^ species, constitutes a genus readily distinguished by the enor- 

 mous length of the ears, by the terminal half of the tail having a crest 

 of long hair on its upper surface, and by the great relative length of the hind-limbs in 

 which all trace of the inner toe is wanting. The molar teeth are, morever, curved, 

 and in the type species have longer roots and shorter crowns than in the true bandi- 

 coots. The rabbit bandicoot is about the size of an ordinary rabbit, and is clothed 

 with fine silky hair of considerable length. The general color of the upper parts is 

 pale gray, passing into rufous on the flanks, and becoming white beneath; the feet, 

 as well as the end of the tail, being white. 



The pig- footed bandicoot (Chceropits castanotis}. is a delicately-built 

 Pig- Footed 



Bandicoot a ratner sma U animal, measuring from ten to eleven inches m 



length, exclusive of the short tail. It has long ears, and a rather 

 short but sharp muzzle, naked at the extreme tip; but its most characteristic fea- 

 tures are to be found in its feet. In the fore-limbs, which are much shorter than the 

 hinder pair, the functional toes are reduced to the second and third, these being fur- 

 nished with short, symmetrical, and slightly-curved claws; while the first and fifth 

 toes are absent, and the fourth represented merely by a small rudiment. In the long 

 and slender hind-limbs the whole strength is concentrated in the long and stout 

 fourth toe, the united second and third toes being very small, and the fourth alto- 

 gether rudimentary. The fur is coarse and straight; its general color on the head 

 and body being a uniform grizzled gray, with a tinge of fawn; while the chin, chest, 



