1448 



THE POUCHED MAMMALS, OR MARSUPIALS 



THE POUCHED MOLE 



Family NOTORTCTID^ 



In general bodily conformation 

 is a mole- like creature, measuring 



UNDER SURFACE OF THE POUCHED MOI.E. 



(Two-thirds natural size.) 



(After Stirling.) 



the pouched mole (Notoryctes typhlops) 

 about five inches in total length, and 

 covered with long, soft, 

 and silky hair of a 

 light fawn color, deepen- 

 ing in parts to golden. 

 There are no external 

 ears, and the eyes are rep- 

 resented merely by small 

 black dots buried in the 

 skin. The nose and upper 

 lip are protected by a 

 peculiar quadrangular 



leathery shield, the use of which to a burrowing animal is sufficiently obvious. The 



short limbs, which are covered with hair down to the claws, are very remarkable in 



structure. Eoth pairs are of nearly equal 



length, powerfully made, and furnished 



with five toes. In the fore-paws the third 



and fourth toes are enormously enlarged 



and furnished with huge triangular claws 



of great power; while in the hinder pair 



the first toe is small and furnished with a 



small claw, and the others decrease in size 



from the second to the fifth. The short, 



cylindrical, and stumpy tail is hard and 



leathery, and marked by a series of dis- 

 tinct rings. The pouch opens backward, 



and contains two very small teats. The 



teeth are small and weak, and appear to 



be forty in number. Of these, three pairs 



in each jaw are incisors, and seven are 



cheek-teeth; the molars having triangular 



three-cusped crowns, and much resembling 



those of the golden mole. This mole ap- 

 pears to be a very rare and locally distrib- stirlin 



uted animal, restricted to the deserts of 



Northern South Australia, lying to the northeast of Lake Eyre. Here it inhabits 



flats and hills of red sand, upon which grow porcupine grass (Triodia) and acacias. 



Dr. Stirling, by whom the Marsupial mole was first made known to science, states 



that most of the specimens he obtained were ' ' captured by the aboriginals, who, with, 



FEET OF THE POUCHED MOLE. 

 (About two-thirds natural size.) 

 i. Outer aspect of left fore-foot. 2. Profile view of 

 same. 3. Inner aspect of same. 4. Upper surface of 

 left hind-foot. 5. Palmar surface of same. After 



