1894.] didelphyidjE or s.E. t brazil. 461 



adult " Quica " from Brazil safely to Switzerland, feeding it on 

 board the steamer mainly on fruits. The individual was presented 

 to the Basel Zoological Garden. 



3. MlCOUREUS GRISETTS. 



My collection contains a single specimen of a fine grey 

 Micoureus, somewhat doubtful as regards the species. The 

 dimensions of the dry skin are : — length of body 120 mm., tail 

 155 mm.; the basilar length of the skull is 32 mm. The colour 

 of the fur (which is notably soft and velvety, much more than in 

 Metachirus quica) is greyish above, with a rufous tone on the 

 shoulders and more bluish in the region of the legs ; pure white 

 on the underside. Distinct blackish face-markings surround the 

 eyes and run forward to the neighbourhood of the nose. There is 

 no white spot above the eye as in the " Quica." The tail is furry 

 at its basal part for about 1 cm., and becomes suddenly naked and 

 scaly on the remainder ; its colour is uniformly greyish, and does 

 not show the contrast of black and fleshy, so apparent on the tail 

 of a young " Quica." 



The number of grey species of Didelpbyidse is small, embracing 

 (besides M. quica) Didelpliys cinerea, D. grisea, D. velutina, and 

 D. elegans. D. cinerea, which I know principally from the figure 

 given by Burmeister, pi. xii., and the description of Mr. 0. Thomas 

 (p. 342 et seq.), is larger and presents other differences. D. velutina 

 (Burmeister, pi. xiv.) differs, as we know by batterer's type in the 

 Vienna Museum, in having a tail inferior in length to the body, 

 and shows (if Burmeister's figure is approximately correct) a pale 

 circular eye-marking, not running forward to the nose. For some 

 time I believed my animal to be D. elegans, and 1 was brought to 

 this idea by Burmeister's pi. xv., showing a small marsupial very 

 similar to my specimen, and even now I do not consider the 

 question satisfactorily settled. 



Some doubts arose only when I obtained the work of Mr. Thomas 

 and read his description of D. grisea, a species not cited by 

 Burmeister in his ' Systematische TJebersicht' and only mentioned 

 in a very short note in his ' Erliiuterungen ' (p. 83) as a form never 

 met with by him. Mr. Thomas gives the following description : — ■ 

 " Fur close, soft, and rather fluffy. General colour above uniform 

 deep grey, with scarcely a tinge of rufous. Pace rather pale grey ; 

 the dark eye-markings confined to the front of the eye and com- 

 paratively inconspicuous. Ears very large, leafy. Chin, chest, and 

 belly pure sharply-defined white, the line of demarcation, especially 

 on the neck, with a slight rufous or fulvous wash. Pouch absent l . 

 Tail long, slender, tapering, its basal half -inch furry, the remainder 

 practically naked ; grey above, white below." The characters here 



part, irregularly spotted with pale dark marks of different size. The face- 

 markings are as yet very indistinct. The bright bluish tinge of the scrotum, 

 which is comparatively very large as a rule in Didelpliyidai, is also very 

 noticeable. (24/2/ ( J4.) 



1 My specimen is a male, therefore I am in doubt about the pouch. 



