T799-3 OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 46; 



triangle, any fide of which is about fcven inches and five-tenths in 

 length; but the upper fide, or that which conftitutes the breadth of 

 the head, is rather the fhorteft. The hair upon the face lies in re- 

 gular order, as if it were combed, .with its ends pointed upwards in 

 a kind of radii from the nofe, their centre. 



The ears are fharp and erecT, of two inches and three- tenths in 

 length, fland well afunder, and are in nowife difproportionate. The 

 eyes are fmall, and rather funken than prominent, but quick and 

 lively. They are placed about two inches and five-tenths afunder, a 

 little below the centre of the imaginary triangle towards the nofe. The 

 nice co-adaptation of their ciliary proceffes, which are covered with 

 fine hair, feems to afford the animal an extraordinary power of ex- 

 cluding whatever might be hurtful. 



The nofe is large or fpreading ; the noftrils large, long, and capa- 

 ble of being clofed. They ftand angularly with each other, and a 

 channel is continued from them towards the upper lip, which is di- 

 vided like that of the hare. The whiikers are rather thick and ftrong, 

 and are in length from two to three inches and five-tenths. The 

 opening of its mouth is fmall ; it contains five long grafs-cutting teeth 

 in the front of each jaw, like thofe of the kangooroo ; within them is 

 a vacancy for an inch or more ; then appear two fmall canine teeth of 

 equal height with, and fo much fimilar to, eight molares fituated be- 

 hind, as fcarcely to be diftinguifhable from them. The whole num- 

 ber in both jaws amounts to twenty-four. 



The neck is thick and fhort, and greatly reftrains the motions of 

 the head, which, according to a common expreflion, looks as if it 

 were ftuck upon the fhoulders. 



From the neck the back arches a little as far as the loins, whence 

 it goes off at a flat flope to the hindmoft parts, where not any tail is 

 vifible. A tail, however, may be found by carefully pafling the finger 

 over the flat flope in a line with the back-bone. After feparating the 

 hairs, it is feen of fome five-tenths of an inch in length, and from 

 three to one-tenth of an inch in diameter, naked, except for a few 



302 fhort 



