5. SMINTHOPSIS. 301 



Mus. Genov.\{^) iv. p. 507 (1887) ; id. Phil. Tram, clxxviii. p. 461, 

 pL xxvii. fig. 1 (teeth) (1887). 

 Phascologale (Sminthopsis) virginise, Coll. Zool. Jahrh. ii. p. 866 

 (1887). 



Largest of the genus. Fur rather short, very soft and silky, 

 apparently all of one sort. General colour of body grizzled grey, 

 Face sandy rufous, ornamented with three black longitudinal lines, 

 a single central one running along the top of the muzzle, and a pair 

 of less distinct ones running from the nose to the eyes. Cheeks, sides 

 of neck, and tufts at base of ears bright rufous. Ears very large, 

 transparent, nearly naked ; their backs with the anterior margins 

 rather, but not prominentlyj darker than the rest. Back uniform 

 finely grizzled grey, the hairs slate-coloured for two thirds of their 

 length, then black, and with a white subterminal band, the extreme 

 tip black. Chin, chest, and belly white, or pale yellow, the bases 

 of the hairs grey. Outside of upper arms and of thighs like back ; 

 rest of limbs white ; claws very small and delicate, white or yeUow. 

 Sole-piads, so far as can be made out in the single dried specimen 

 available, precisely like those of Sm. leucopus (q. v.). Tail about 

 as long as the head and body, uniformly short-haired, the hairs 

 dark brown above, paler below. .. 



Skull short and strongly built ; muzzle conical. Nasals scarcely 

 broader behind than in front. Interorbital space unusually narrow, 

 its edges square, and forming two distinct, though rudimentary, 

 postorbital processes. Sagittal and lambdoidal crests well defined. 

 Anterior palatine foramina reaching to the level of the centre of the 

 canines. Posterior palate with a pair of ill-defined vacuities. Bullae 

 small, hemispherical, transparent, their posterior portion unswoUen. 



Teeth. Upper incisors small, cylindrical, i.* slightly larger than 

 i.^ and i.' Canine very long and slender. Premolars (see CoUett's 

 figures, I. c.) disproportionate in size — p.' and p.^ very small, the 

 latter but slightly the larger of the two, and p.* very large and 

 heavy, many times the size of p.' M.^ slender, narrow antero-pos- 

 teriorly. Lower incisors small, about equal in size. Canine with 

 a slight posterior basal broadening. Premolars evenly increasing in 

 size backwards, p.* twice the size of p.^ 



Dimensions. 



<S- 



* (stuffed). 



millim. 



Head and body 125 



Tail 125 



Hind foot 22 



Ear 13 



SkuU, see p. 308. 



Hab. Central Queensland. 



Type not in existence. 



* From Dr. Lumholtz's specimen, preserved in the Christiaiua Museum. 



