NEW SOUTH WALES. 275 



" From the neck the back arches a little as 

 far as the loins, whence it goes off at a flat 

 slope to the hindmost parts, where no tail is 

 visible A tail, notwithstanding is found, after 

 separating the hairs, five tenths of an inch in 

 length, naked, except for a few short hair near 

 its end. This curious tail seemed to hold a 

 much bolder proportion in the young than in 

 the full-gown animal. 



" The fore legs are very strong and muscular: 

 their length, to the sole of the paw, iso inches, and 

 the distance between them is 5 inches. The paws 

 are fleshy, round and large being 2 inches in dia- 

 meter. Their claws are 5 in number* The 3 mid- 

 dle claws are strong ; the thumb and little 

 finger claws are also strong, but shorter than 

 the others. The fleshy root of the thumb- 

 claw, is smaller and more flexible than the 

 others. The sole of the paw is hard, and 

 the upper part covered with the common hair, 

 down to the roots of the claws which it over- 

 hangs. The hind legs are less strong and mus- 

 cular than the fore; their length, to the sole, is 

 five inches and a half. The hind paw is longer 

 than the fore, but not less fleshy ; its length is 

 nearly three inches, its breadth two inches and 

 a half. The claws are four in number : the 

 three inner ones are less strong, but about two- 

 tenths of an inch longer than the longest of the 

 fore claws; and there is a fleshy spur in the 

 place of a thumb-claw. The whole paw has a 

 curve, which throws its fore part rather inward. 



u In size the two sexes are nearly the same, 

 \v\l the female rather the heaviest. 



