480 



ZOOLOGY 



SECT. 



the Tasmanian Devil has a more thickset body ; the Thylacine has 



a remarkable resemblance in general shape, as well as size, to a Wolf. 



The Banded Ant-eater (Myrmecobius) is devoid of the marsupium. 

 The Bandicoots (Peramelidce) are burrowing Marsupials, the 



size of which varies from 

 that of a large Rat to 

 that of a Rabbit. They 

 have an elongated 

 pointed muzzle, and, in 

 some cases, large audi- 

 tory pinnae. The tail is 

 usually short, sometimes 

 long. The first and fifth 

 digits of the fore-feet 

 are vestigial or absent, 

 the remaining three 

 nearly equally de- 

 veloped. In the hind- 

 foot the fourth toe is 

 much longer and stouter 

 than the others, while 

 the second and third 

 are small and slender, 

 and united together by 



a web of skin, and the first is vestigial or absent. The marsupium 



has its opening directed backwards. 



Notoryctes, the Marsupial Mole (Fig. 1121), is a small burrowing 



Marsupial, ^with short and powerful limbs, each with five toes, 



FIG. 1118. Virginian Opossum (Didelphysvirginiana) 

 (After Vogt and Specht.) 



FIG. 1119. Dasyure (Dasyurus viverrinus). (After Vogt and Specht.) 



the third and fourth of the fore-foot provided with remarkable, 

 large, flat, triangular claws. The tail is short and covered with 

 bare skin. An auditory pinna is absent, and the eyes are vestigial. 

 The pouch opens backwards, 



