1. THYiACINUS. 257 



and disappearing just behind the shoulders. Chin, chest, and belly 

 paler than back, but the difference not very strongly marked. Soles 

 naked, coarsely granulated, without defined foot-pads. Tail shorter 

 than body, very thinly haired, except just at base, coloured like 

 back, but its tip blackish and provided both above and below with 

 indistinct crests of longer hairs. Mammae 4*. 



Shull with the nasals long, slightly expanded behind. Tnterorbital 

 space broad, swollen, its edges rounded, but forming prominent 

 thickened poatorbital projections. Sagittal and lambdoid crests well 

 developed, even in immature specimens. Anterior palatine foramina 

 long and narrow, ending rather behind the centre of the canine. 

 One pair of large posterior palatine vacuities, opposite ms. ^*. 

 Palate ending just behind the level of m.* Skull of female dis- 

 tinguishable from that of male by its smaller size, shorter muzzle, 

 less expanded zygomata, and, so far as regards the dentition, by 

 the actually smaller but proportionally larger teeth, and especially 

 by the much smaller size of the last molar, which in the male is 

 about 13 or 14 miUim. in its transverse diameter, as compared to 

 10 or 11 in the female. 



Teeth delicate, not large in proportion to the size of the animal. 

 Incisors forming an evenly bowed transverse series ; i.' quite in 

 series with the rest, separated at its base from its fellow of the 

 opposite side, occasionally converging to meet it at its crown ; 

 i.^ nearly twice as large in section as any of the others, which are 

 about equal. P.^ slightly smaller than p.^; p.* about twice the 

 size of p.' 



Dimensions. 



a (stuffed), 

 millim. 



Head and body 1080 



TaU 530 



Hind foot 150 



Ear 57 



Skull, see p. 261. 



Edb. Tasmania. 



■Type not in existence. 



Krefft's Th. hreviceps is evidently based merely on the female of 

 this species, the characters he gives being precisely those that sepa- 

 rate the two sexes, which differ in their cranial and dental cha- 

 racters far more than do the sexes of any other Marsupial. 



a, J.'Ad. st,, 2. Tasmania. Eonald Gunn, Esq. [P. 



& 1 

 J Ad. sk. I , Zool. SoG. 



"■ ) Skeleton. \ ° ' 



* Apud Owen, P. Z. S. 1843, p. 148. 



