300 PHASCOLOMYS. 



WOMBAT. 



Phascolomys Wombat. 



PLATE XXXII. 

 Phascolomys Wombat, Peron et Lesueur, Voyage Atl. t. 28. 



Body stout and heavy ; limbs short ; head large, 

 the upper surface flattened ; muzzle ohtuse ; eyes 

 very small ; ears small and pointed ; tail, a mere 

 tubercle. Fur moderately long and very coarse 

 almost bristly ; general tint grey, mottled with black 

 and white; the hairs covering the feet chiefly black; 

 ears well clothed with hairs, those on the inner side 

 tolerably long and of a silvery white colour, those on 

 the outer side very long towards the base of the ear, 

 but less numerous and shorter on the tip where they 

 are black ; the hairs on the base are white grizzled 

 with greyish and broadly tipped with black ; the hairs 

 of the back are brown-black at the base, then white, 

 and at the apex black many hairs are altogether 

 black. On the belly the hairs are of a dirty white 

 colour, brownish at the base and dusky or black at the 

 apex, there are also interspersed black hairs. The 

 feet are broad and naked beneath ; the claws are 

 large and solid ; those of the fore-feet are but slightly 

 curved and slightly depressed ; the claws of the hind- 

 feet are curved and slightly compressed. 



The tip of the muzzle is naked, and the nostrils 

 are widely separated.* 



* A longitudinal groove divides the naked tip of the muzzle 

 into two parts, in the specimen before me, but it is not in the 

 middle, and does not appear to be natural. 



