POUCHED MAMMALS. 209 



thus taking the place of the tree-shrews of the Oriental region. Whereas 

 the largest is not bigger than an ordinary rat, the others are considerably 

 smaller. In all the Australian species the fur of the back is uniformly 

 coloured, and the same is the case with a few of the forms inhabiting Papua, 

 although the majority from that area are longitudinally striped. Four 

 nearly allied animals, which may be known as the narrow-footed pouched- 

 mice, and constitute the genus Sminthopns^ are easily distinguished 

 from the foregoing by the narrow feet which are either partially haired 

 or naked, with the bare portion granulated, and with or without pads, the 

 latter, when present, being either smooth or but faintly striated. These 

 pouched-mice are restricted to Australia and Tasmania, and differ from 

 the members of the preceding genus in being strictly terrestrial, so that in 

 this respect they are comparable to ordinary shrews. More markedly 

 distinct is the long-legsred pouched-mouse (Antezhinomys laniger), from the 

 interior of New South Wales and southern Queensland, which is a mouse- 

 like, leaping animal specially characterised by the great elongation of the 

 hind-limbs and the loss of the first toe in the hind-foot. The fur is 

 uniformly coloured, the tail is long and tufted, and the ears are of large 

 size. These little creatures, which subsist exclusively on insects, inhabit 

 open sandy districts. As the members of the two preceding genera 

 respectively represent the tree-shrews and ordinary shrews, so the present 

 form may be likened to the African jumping-shrews. 



One of the most remarkable of all the pouched mammals is the banded 

 ant-eater (Myrmecobius fasciatus) of south and west Australia, which presents 

 a curious approximation in the number 

 and structure of its teeth to some of the 

 extinct Secondary marsupials of Europe. 

 By many writers it is regarded as the 

 representative of a distinct family by 

 itself, and it certainly constitutes a sub- 

 family (Myrmecobiince) of the Dasyuridce, 

 which may be distinguished from the 

 whole of the foregoing genera (Dasy- 

 urince) by the following features : In 



place of being of normal proportions, the _ BANDED ANT . EATER 



tongue is long, cylindrical, and extensile ; , (Myrmecobius fasciatus). 



the nose is naked and grooved below ; 

 the pointed lower lip projects in advance of the teeth; and there is a gland 

 on the chest opening on the exterior by means of several apertures. The 

 cheek-teeth are small and delicate, the molars forming more than four pairs, 

 and being separated from one another by intervals, while those of the lower 

 jaw have their inner cusps larger than the outer ones. In general appear- 

 ance the banded ant-eater is a graceful squirrel-like animal, with the hinder 

 part of the back marked by a series of narrow white stripes on a bright 

 lufous ground. The ears are rather long and narrow, and the tail is elon- 

 gated and bushy. All external trace of the first toe of the hind-foot is 

 wanting, and all the functional toes are armed with claws adapted for digging; 

 the soles of the fore-feet being partially naked, while those of the hinder 

 pair are completely so, their pads being small and granulated. The pouch is 

 obsolete, and the number of teats appears to be four. The cheek-teeth 

 usually comprise three pairs of pre-molars and five of molars in each jaw, 

 but occasionally there is a sixth pair of lower molara. As a rare abnormality, 

 15 



