384 



THE CHjEROPVS. 



It is but a small animal, measuring only eighteen inches in total length. When the 

 animal is killed, it is not easily liayed, as the skin adheres so tightly to the flesh that 

 its removal is a matter of some difficulty, when there is need for preserving the skin in its 

 integrity. 



The Long-nosed Bandicoot is not unlike the preceding animal in form, but differs from 



it in the coloring of its fur, and the greater length of its snout. 



The face, head, and body are of a brown tint, pencilled with black on the upper portions, 



and the sides are of a pale brown, sometimes warmed with a rich purplish hue. The edge of 



the upper lip is white, as are also the under portions of the body, and the fore-legs and feet. 



This fur is very harsh to the touch. The total length of this animal is about twenty-one 



inches, the tail being five inches in length. 



The food of the Long-nosed Bandicoot is said to be of a purely vegetable nature, and the 



animal is reported to occasion some havoc among 

 the gardens and granaries of the colonists. Its 

 long and powerful claws aid it in obtaining roots, 

 and it is not at all unlikely that it may, at the 

 same time that it unearths and eats a root, seize 

 and devour the terrestrial larvae which are found 

 in almost every square inch of ground. The 

 lengthened nose and sharp teeth which present 

 so great a resemblance to the same organs in in- 

 sectivorous shrews, afford good reasons for con- 

 jecturing that they may be employed in much 

 the same manner. 



The dentition of the Bandicoot is rather in- 

 teresting, and will be found detailed at some 

 length in the table of generic distinctions at the 

 end of the volume. 



The large-eared, woolly-furred little animal 

 which is here represented, is closely allied to the 

 bandicoots, but at once distinguishable from them 

 by the peculiarity of structure which has earned 

 for it the generic title of Chseropus, or "swine- 

 footed." 



Upon the fore-feet there are only two toes, 



which are of equal length, and armed with sharp 



and powerful hoof -like claws, that bear no small 



resemblance to the foot of a pig, and are not only porcine in their external aspects, but in the 



track which they leave upon the ground when the creature walks on soft soil. Slenderly and 



gracefully swinish, it is true, but still piggish in appearance, though not in character. 



The Ch/Eroptts was formerly designated by the specific title of ecaudatus, or tailless, 

 because the first specimen that had been captured was devoid of caudal appendage, and there- 

 fore its discoverers naturally concluded that all its kindred were equally curtailed of their fair 

 proportions. But as new specimens came before the notice of the zoological world, it was 

 found that the Chreropus was rightly possessed of a moderately long and somewhat rat-like 

 tail, and that the taillessness of the original specimen was only the result of accident to the 

 individual, and not the normal condition of the species. The size of the Cheeropus is about 

 equal to that of a small rabbit, and the soft, woolly fur is much of the same color as that of 

 the common wild rabbit. 



It is an inhabitant of New South AVales, and was first discovered by Sir Thomas Mitchell 

 on the banks of the Murray River, equally to the astonishment of white men and natives, the 

 latter declaring that they had never before seen such a creature. The speed of the Cha^ropus 



CILEROPUS.— (yweropus cmtanotus. 



