228 PEEAMELID-aS. 



and third with flattened twisted nails, the fourth long, powerful, 

 and with a strong pointed claw, and the fifth similar but smaller. 

 Soles naked or partially hairy ; pads either reduced to two small 

 ones at the bases of the larger digits or entirely absent. Tail 

 present, tapering, uniformly short-haired or nearly naked. 



STcull much elongated, with a long and generally slender muzzle. 

 Nasals long and narrow, not markedly expanded behind. Inter- 

 orbital region rounded, not ridged above, except sometimes anteriorly 

 in the lacrymal region. Palate always with one, and often with 

 two pairs of vacuities. Bullae variable, either large and boldly 

 inflated, or smaU and partially imperfect, their posterior, mastoid, 

 portion never swollen. 



Dmtition:-L. i^^^#^», C \, P. l^^t M. \^^, X 2 

 =46 or 48. 



Teeth. Upper incisors flattened, vertical, subequal, the first four 

 close together, the fifth either absent or standing some way behind 

 the rest. Premolars either evenly increasing in size backwards, or 

 p.^ and p.' subequalj but p."* always larger and heavier -than the 

 other two; p.' with diastemata both in front of and behind it. 

 Molars multicuspidate, either triangular or quadrangular, the 

 anterior ones with four minute cusps along their outer edges. 

 M.* small, placed transversely, generally with a distinct posterior 

 talon. Lower teeth more or less similar in character to upper ; 

 i.' with a distinct posterior secondary cusp ; roofe of i.^ and i.' 

 entirely uncovered by bone antero-inferiorly. P.^ placed some way 

 from canine, and nearer to p.' M.* with a distinct posterior talon, 

 which in some species is large and bicuspid, in others small and simple. 



Milk-premolars always present, functional and persistent until 

 the animal is about half-grown. 



Habits. Terrestrial, fossorjal, omnivorous. 



Range. Papuan and Australian subregions. 



This genus contains the great mass of the members of the family, 

 animals to which the name of Bandicoot is commonly applied. 

 The species are common and widely distributed, and are well known 

 to the colonists on account of the damage done by them in gardens 

 and cultivated fields. Their food consists of roots, bulbs,, berries, 

 fallen fruit, and other vegetable substances, in addition to insects 

 and earthworms, on which latter they probably chiefly live, judging 

 by the large amount of comminuted earth that is generally to be 

 found in their stomachs. 



The Australian species of Perameles fall into two very distinct 

 groups, of which P. obesula and P. gunni are respectively typical, 

 and these would probably deserve to be genericaUy separated from 

 one another were it not that in New Guinea many of the intermediate 

 links between the two have been preserved. This division into 

 groups was fully recognized by Mr. Gould, who states (Mamm. 

 Austr. i. text to pi. xi.) that the members of the first one " inhabit 

 low swampy grounds covered with dense vegetation," and those of 

 the second live on " the stony ridges of the hotter and more exposed 

 parts." 



