298 DABTPEIDa!. 



Hah. South and West Australia. 

 Type in collection. 



I Ad. sk. in al. I , Adelaide. Purcliased. 

 «•] Skull. f^- 



, i Ad. sk. I , WOliams R., Western Gould Coll. 



• I SkuU. j ° • Australia (J: GaSerf). (TV^je of species.) 



e. Ad. St., c? . Purchased. 



d. Anatomical prepara- (Voy. H.M.S. ' OhaUen- Dr. R. Cunningliara. 



tions in al. ger,') 



5. SMINTHOPSIS, „ 



Type. 



Podabrus, Gould, Mamm. Austr. Letterpress to 



pi. xlvii. (1845) : nee (Fisch. de Waldh.') Westw. 



Introd. Insect, ii. Synopsis, p. 27 (1840) S. craasicaudata. 



Sminthopsis, Thomas, Ann. Mus. Oenov. (2) iv. 



p. 503 (1887) S. crassicaudata. 



Size very small ; build slender and delicate. Ears large, broad 

 and rounded ; metatragus large and thin, its end slightly folded. 

 Tail well developed, short-haired, sometimes incrassated. Feet 

 slender and delicate ; tarsus and metatarsus very long in comparison 

 to the toes. Toes subequal, with small delicate claws ; hallux 

 present, but short and olawless ; palms and soles naked or partially 

 hairy, the naked part uniformly granulated ; hind pads either 

 wholly absent or, at most, four in number (see PI. XXIII. fig. 6). 

 Pouch well developed. Mammae 8 or 10. 



SJcull generally slender and delicate, not flattened vertically. 

 Nasals differing from those of all the preceding genera by their not 

 beiag markedly expanded behind, their transverse diameter only 

 very slightly and gradually increasing backwards. Interorbital 

 region proportionally much narrower than in Phascologale. Palatal 

 vacuities but little variable in their number and position ; one large 

 pair opposite the first three molars, and a second smaller pair nearer 

 the middle line opposite m.* BuUse small, transparent, hemi- 

 spherical, the posterior, mastoid, portion not swollen. 



Dentition: — I. -y-j-^i C. j, P. J70737J) M. 17273^x2=46. 



Teeth very constant in their characters. Upper incisors small, 

 slender, i.' separated from the others and projecting forwards, 

 cylindrical ; lateral incisors but little flattened, slightly increasing 

 in size backwards. Canines, especially the lower ones, generally 

 small and weak. P.* large and strong, its point projecting beyond 

 any of the molars. Molars as in Phascologale. Lower incisors 

 subequal. Premolars increasing in size backwards, p.* rarely a very 

 little smaller, generally decidedly larger than p.' M." always with 

 a small antero-internal secondary cusp. 



MUk-premolar large, triangular, long persistent. 



Habits. Terrestrial; insectivorous. 



Range. Australia and Tasmania. 



