20 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 



folding of the abdominal integument for the safe lodgment of the newly-born young. 

 These young are, furthermore, brought forth at a very early and rudimentary stage 

 of their development, and there is not that pre-natal union with the mother through 

 the medium of an allantoic placenta that is the rule among all higher mammals. Ac- 

 cording, however, to the most recent investigations, a rudimentary development of this 

 embryological structure occurs in one of the Bandicoots, Perameles. 



Within the limits of the Marsupialian order the modifications in form and 

 habits of its component members are almost as marked as those which are found 

 throughout the entire range of the higher mammalian groups of the Eutheria. True 

 carnivora are thus traced in such predatory types as the so-called Tasmanian tiger or 

 wolf, Thylatinus cynocephalus, and the Tasmanian Devil, Sarcophilus ursinus. These 

 two forms, while now living only in the southern island of Tasmania, were, as shown 

 by their fossil remains, formerly represented by identical or closely allied species on the 

 Australian mainland. A circumstance, however, of even higher interest and significance 

 is the discovery within the past two years of the fossil remains of a species, 

 Prothylacinus patagonicus, in the tertiary deposits of Patagonia, which apparently 

 closely resembled the Tasmanian Thylacine in habits and structure. These remains, 

 together with those of many other Marsupial types having distinct Thylacine and 

 Dasyurine affinities, have been figured and described at length by Florentine Ameghino 

 in the Brazilian "Bulletin of the Academy of Cordova" for the year 1894. 



Passing on to the so-called Australian native cats or Dasyures, usually dis- 

 tinguished by their profusely spotted plan of ornamentation, there may be said to be a 

 considerable approximation to the Viverrinse or Civet and Ichneumon group of the 

 carnivora ; while in Myrmicobius, a small Western and Southern Australian type, the 

 habits and correlated conformation of the attenuate snout and abnormally elongate pro- 

 trusible tongue closely correspond with those of the higher ant-eaters. The only known 

 existing species, Myrmicobius fasciatus frequently misnamed a " squirrel " in those dis- 

 tricts of Western Australia where it most abounds is of special interest, since it possesses 

 a larger number of teeth than any existing Marsupial. In this respect and also in their 

 character, the teeth of Myrmicobius coincide closely with those of certain primitive 

 mammalian types, such as Amphilestes, Amblotherium and allied forms, which occur in 

 the upper Jurassic formations of both Europe and the United States. 



The Bandicoots, Perameles and its allies, include numerous small forms, the 

 largest not exceeding a rabbit in size. Their habits are partly vegetarian and 

 partly insectivorous. In the latter respect, as also in their general form and usually 



