69 



July 12, 1836. 

 Thomas Bell, Esq., in the Chair. 



Mr. Waterhouse, at the request of the Chairman, read a Paper, 

 entitled " Description of a new genus of Mammiferous Animals from 

 New Holland, which will probably be found to belong to the MarsU' 

 pial type." 



The skin on which this description was founded had been lent to 

 Mr. Waterhouse, for the purpose of describing, by Lieut. Dale, of 

 Liverpool, who procured it whilst on an exploring party in the inte- 

 rior of the Swan River Settlement, about 90 miles to the S.E. of the 

 mouth of that river. Two specimens were seen ; both of which took 

 to hollow ti-ees on being pursued, and one of them was unfortunately 

 burned to death in the attempt to dislodge it from its retreat. The 

 country abounded with decayed trees and ant-hills ; and Mr. Water- 

 house is of opinion, from this circumstance and from some peculiari- 

 ties in the structure of the animal, tliat it lives chiefly, if not wholly, 

 upon ants, for which reason he proposes for it the generic name of 



Myrmecobius. 



Dentes incisores ?, canini "-5^, pseudo-molares ^-^, molares |5^=48. 



Pedes antici 5-dactyli, digitis tribus intermediis longioribus; pos- 

 tici 4-dactyli, digitis duobus intermediis internum superantibus; ex- 

 terno brevissimo; unguibus longis acutis subfalcularibus. Scelides 

 antipedibus longiores. Caput elongatum ; rhinario producto ; auri- 

 culis mediocribus acutis. Corpus gracile. Cauda mediocris. 



Mr. Waterhouse details at length the peculiarities of the denti- 

 tion and other structural characters of the animal under considera- 

 tion, and particularly notices the statement of Lieut. Dale that, when 

 it was killed, the tongue was protruded from the mouth to the ex- 

 tent of two inches beyond the tip of the nose, its breadth being 

 three sixteenths of an inch ; which circumstance, combined with the 

 dentition of the animal, confirms him in the belief that it feeds upon 

 ants. With respect to its immediate affinities he confesses himself 

 at a loss. In skinning the specimen, the part where the pouch 

 would be placed in a marsupial animal, has been so mutilated as to 

 render it difficult to determine whether or not it possessed one : it 

 appears, however, to have been a female, and to have two mamrruE 

 and the remains of a pouch. Mr. Waterhouse is of opinion that it 

 will prove to be allied to the genus Phascogale ; and there are also, 

 he states, points of resemblance between it and Tupaia, as well as 

 with the ground Squirrels, the genus Tumias of modern authors. 



The species Mr. Waterhouse proposes to name Myrmecobius fas- 

 ciatus : he describes it as follows : " Length from the nose to the 

 root of the tail (measuring along the curve of the back) ten inches ; 



No. XLIII. — Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



