GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY. 



29 



is little or no trace of a separate neck, the front of the snout is protected by 

 a hard horny shield, and there are no visible eyes, the somewhat eye-like spot 

 occupying a remotely posterior position in Fig. 2, representing the external ear- 

 opening as purposely exposed to view by the brushing aside of the surrounding fur. 

 The peculiar modifications of the tail, feet, and the extraordinary development of the 

 third and fourth claws of the fore limbs for fossorial purposes, are distinctly shown 

 in both of the accompanying figures. 



Eegarding the observed habits of the Pouched Mole, it would appear that it 

 is by no means as permanent a subterranean dweller as the typical Moles, Talpa and 



I 



FIG. 1. 



FIG. 2. 



AUSTRALIAN- POUCHED MOLE, Notoryctes typhlops. FIO. I. VENTRAL. FIG. II. LATERAL ASPECTS, AFTER DR. J. E. STIRLING. 



TWO-THIRDS NATURAL SIZE, p. 28. 



its allies. It frequents the sandy spinifex lands in the neighbourhood of the Finke 

 River water course and the Alice Springs Stations in the southern part of the 

 Northern Territory of South Australia, distant from Adelaide about one thousand 

 miles. The capture of the first example obtained was due to the observation on 

 the surface of the sand of peculiar trails which, on being followed up, resulted in the 

 discovery of the animal reposing under a tuft of the Spinifex or Porcupine grass, 

 Triodia irritans. Further observation elicited the fact that its usual habit was to 



