222 MACEOPODID^. 



smooth. Muzzle short, broad and conical, sharply pointed anteriorly, 

 its sides not prominently inflated. Nasals short, narrow in front, 

 much expanded behind, their greatest breadth about half their 

 length. Outline of fronto-nasal region evenly convex. Interorbital 

 space smooth, its edges parallel, square, not beaded, and not forming 

 postorbital processes. Anterior palatine foramina very short. 

 Posterior vacuities proportionally larger than in the other species, 

 extending forwards to the middle of m.^ Bullae apparently distinctly 

 inflated. 



Teeth very small and light. Upper i.' very long ; i.^ i.', and the 

 oanine small. P.* about equal in length to the two posterior molars, 

 narrow, sharp-edged, with two broad shallow grooves externally 

 and internally. Lower p.* like upper. 



Dimensions. 



S- 

 a (skin). 

 millim. 



Head and body 340 



Tail 190 



Hind foot 62 



Muzzle to eye 33 



Ear 22 



Skull, see p. 125. 



Hah. West Australia. 

 Type in collection. 



jAd.sk.) Q "Walyema Swamps, Victoria, Gould Coll. 



"■ I Skull, j +■ West Australia (J. ftVSert). (TVpe of species.) 



I ) Ad. sk. I J, Albany, King George's Sound, Gould Coll. 



*• ■jSkuU. \ °- W.A. (J. Gilbert). 



Subfamily III. HYPSIPRYMNODONTIN^. 



Size very small. Claws quite small and feeble, subequal. Hind 

 feet with an opposable hallux. Tail naked, scaly. P.* twisted 

 obliquely outwards, its axis not in the same line as the other teeth. 

 Incisors, canines, and molars as in Potoroinm. 



This Subfamily contains but a single species, and one so inter- 

 mediate between the Macropodidce and the Phalangeridce that there 

 is considerable doubt as to which family it ought to be assigned. 

 On the whole, however, the macropine characters of its lower jaw, 

 in which there is a deep cavity at the base of the masseteric fossa, 

 continuous with the inferior dental canal, have induced me to 

 retain it in the present family, although the general structure of its 

 teeth, hind feet, and tail so closely resemble those of certain of the 

 Phalangeridop as to render the division between the two families by 

 no means so sharp and well-defined as it has been usually considered 

 to be. 



a 



