ISLAND FAUNA 91 



Vromys. In the bestowal of a name he has favoured the 

 latter genus. The animal has been introduced to the 

 scientific world under the title Uromys banfieldi, by Mr de 

 Vis, who, referring to it as " eccentric," says : — " The 

 female first sent to us as an example of the species had no 

 young with her, nor were her mammae much in evidence ; 

 consequently, the advent of a specimen caught in the act 

 of carrying young was awaited with interest. Fortune at 

 length favoured our correspondent with an opportunity of 

 placing the correctness of his observation beyond question. 

 (A mother with a pair of infants attached to the teats 

 was chloroformed and sent to Brisbane). On arrival, the 

 young were found detached. The conical corrugated 

 nipples are, compared with the size of the animal, very 

 long; one, especially, 20 mm. in length, calls to mind a 

 marsupial teat." 



By the examination of adult specimens the age at 

 which the young disassociate themselves from the mother 

 has been ascertained. Long after the time of life at which 

 other species of rats are nibbling an independent way 

 through the world, U. Banfieldi clings resolutely to its 

 parent, obtaining from her its sole sustenance. Not until 

 the " infant " is nearly half the size of the mother does it 

 begin to earn its living and trust to its own means of 

 locomotion. 



The presence of the echidna in three colours — black, 

 grey, and straw — and two species of rats emphasises the 

 absence of marsupials, unaccountable unless on the theory 

 of extermination by the original inhabitants in the remote 

 past. 



