290 DASYUEIDiE. 



Nasals distinctly broadened behind. Interorbital space broad, flat, 

 its edges square but not beaded. Occipital region not crested. 

 Anterior palatine foramina short, extending only about to the 

 centre of the canines. Posterior palatine vacuities extending nearly 

 the -whole length of the molars. Bullae small, rounded, their 

 substance thin and papery. 



Teeth (PI. XXY. fig. 5). Upper incisors slender, long. I.' 

 very long, cylindrical, not, or very slightly, flattened laterally, 

 boldly curved forwards away from the other incisors; lateral 

 incisors slightly flattened, subequal. Premolars evenly increasing 

 in size backwards ; p.'' about twice the size of p.' Lower incisors 

 small, i.^ rather larger than i.^ which in turn is a little larger than 

 i.^, but the differences small and unimportant. Canine short and 

 thick, with a small but distinct posterior basal ledge. Premolars 

 short vertically, broad, p.^ about once and a half or twice the size 

 of p.' ; p.'' a little smaller than p.^ M.' generally with a distinct 

 antero-internal secondary cusp. 



Dimensions. 



3. ?. 



n (skin). u (in al.). 



Adult. Adult. 



millim. millim. 



Head and body (c.) 130 108 



TaU 90 84 



Hind foot 19 17 



Ear 10 10-5 



Skull, see p. 299. 



Hah. Eastern Australia ; not found in Tasmania ; replaced in the 

 west by var. leucogaster *. 



Ty^e in collection. . 



This and the two preceding species are very closely allied, and, 

 owing to their variability in colour, they have each caused the 

 creation of several nominal species. I cannot, however, distinguish 

 more than three species, and specimens sometimes occur to a certain 

 extent intermediate between even these. The two Tasmanian 

 species agr^e with each other very closely in the characters of 

 their claws, skuU, and dentition, while Ph. jlavipes, different in 

 these particulars, precisely agrees with Ph. minima in its colour, on 

 which account it has been very commonly confounded with the 

 latter. 



The two subspecies of Ph. jlavipes do not difler by any important 

 character from each other, but the difference in the coloration 



* The ranges of the two subspecies seem to meet in Northern Central 

 Queensland, Dr. Lumholtz having obtained specimens of each of them in the 

 Herbert River district (see OoUett, I. c). These specimens, by the courtesy of 

 Hr. CoUett, I have myself examined and verified.' Although obtained together 

 their difference in colour is very striking, but in all flieir more essential 

 .characters they are entirely identical. 



