108 



ON APPARENTLY m:W SPECIES OF HALMATURUS. 



has proceeded from behind forwards, and from below upwards ; 

 the longitudinal stripes, if any remain, being observable on the 

 fore part of the back, or on the lower part of the body. There 

 is no difficulty in understanding the formation of transverse 

 from longitudinal streaks through the intermediation of spots : 

 we see the process almost in its course in reptiles and fish : in 

 scaly-fish, indeed, it is sometimes difficult to say whether the 

 disposition of the spots should be called longitudinal or trans- 

 verse — they are equally the remnants of the one and the rudi- 

 ments of the other pattern ; nor can a valid objection be taken 

 to the conclusion that the longitudinal striping rather than the 

 transverse was the oi'iginal pattern, or at least had precedence in 

 time. The passage from former to the latter is frequently shown 

 by the same individual during its stages of growth ; changes in the 

 converse direction never. Further, it is worthy of notice that 

 regular longitudinal striping, in the mature animal, is character- 

 istic of tlie cold-blooded classes ; it is I'arely shown b}^ birds and 

 mammals. The truth of the second proposition has long been 

 recognised by ornithologists. The third — that modifications of 

 the type pattern have proceeded by a kind of undulatory move- 

 ment from the hinder and lower towards the fore and upper 

 parts of the body — will probably require fuller consideration; 

 but, on turning to our Australian marsupials, we certainly find 

 in them something very like a confirmation of it. In the 

 laro-pst of the existino- members of the carnivorous division, the 

 Th^dacine, male and female, the hinder part of the back is 

 ornamented with a series of conspicuous transverse stripes. 

 These stripes — or, rather, the i^^de intervals between them — • 

 re-appear in the Bandicoots (P. fasciata and myosuros) , and, 

 after another long suppression, they ai'e reproduced in the 

 Macropvhf' — e.g., Lagorcliestes fasciata and Halmaturus Irma 

 — as continuous bands ; and in several of the Wallabies as a 

 haunch stripe, representing the interval between the two dark 

 stripes upon the haunch of the Thylacine. Together with these 

 posterior cross-bands, the majority' of the Wallabies, in common 

 with the Flying Phalangers, retain a longitudinal stripe on the 

 fore part of the back, and, the Wallabies at least, similarly 

 disposed stripes on the face. Besides these, however, the Wal- 

 labies tend strongly to reproduce a second longitudinal band, 

 apparent in OnycJiogalea froenata and lunata as a shoulder- 

 stripe, rendered more distinct by a darkening of the ground 

 colour around it. Curiously enough, this dark area behind the 

 shoulder is more permanent than the stripe itself : it appears 

 again and again without a trace of the latter. All these mark- 



