MAMMALIA, 205 
DESCRIPTION. 
Body shaped like that of the mole ; head rather small, but when the pouches are distended 
it must have considerable breadth. The obtuse nose is covered with short hairs. The 
incisors are very strong, and have flat, anterior surfaces ; the upper ones are short and straight: 
and are each marked with a single very fine groove, close to its inner edge; the under ones 
are long, curved inwards, and not grooved. The whiskers are composed of fine hairs as long 
as the head. The eyes are small and far back. The auditory opening is capable of receiving 
the head of a pin, and is slightly margined. The pouches are covered on the outside with 
fur of the same colour with that on the back, but beneath and on their posterior margins 
their hairy covering is white. On the head and body the fur is of a grayish-black colour 
its whole length, with a faint brownish reflection in some lights, and it is as fine as that of 
the common mole, but not quite so close and velvety, The chin and throat are white. The 
tail is very short and cylindrical, and is covered by a close smooth coat of short white hairs. 
The extremities are very short; the fore-foot has four toes and the rudiment of a thumb. 
Of these the middle toe is the longest, and has the largest claw ; the first and third are equal 
to each other in length ; the outer one is shorter and far back, and the thumb is still farther 
back, and consists merely of a short claw. The fore-claws are long, compressed, slightly- 
curved and pointed. There are four short toes on the hind-foot, armed with compressed 
claws much shorter than the fore-ones, and the rudiment of a fifth toe, so small that it was 
discovered only after very minute inspection. 
DIMENSIONS 
Of the specimen in the Zoological Museum. 
Inches. _ Lines. Inches. Lines, 
Length of head and body ’ . 7 4 Length of the fur on the back . z 0 6 
3 tail P . . pel 10 5, from the tubercle at the posterior 
>, fromend of nosetothe eye . 0 9 " part of the palm to the end of the middle 
5, from ditto to the auditory opening 1 3 fore-claw ‘ . . » 0 103 
>, from back part of the eye to the 5, of middle fore-claw 5 ‘ 0 4 
auditory opening . 4 iO 6 | 5, from the heel to the tip of the mid- 
Height of the back 2 2 ® 2 0 dle hind-claw ‘ ’ 0 11 
Length of the lower incisors ° » O 5 | 
