THE PERAMELES NASUTA. 
187 
of the nails, both on the hind and the fore feet. Geoffroy 
and Desmarest confine this peculiar formation of the toes . 
to the hind feet alone. Desmarest, in his recent work on 
the Mammalia, has given five toes to the fore feet, and 
only four to the hind feet^ in both species ; while Geoffroy 
places five toes on all the extremities. This contradiction 
arises from M. Desmarest's not enumerating the rudimen- 
tary toes of the Perameles, which, however, are generally 
enumerated in other Mammalia. 
The specimen of Perameles nasuta, from which the fol- 
lowing observations were taken, was a full grown female, 
measuring twenty inches from the point of the nose to the 
free extremity of the tail, and contained oiie of its imper- 
fectly formed young in the external abdominal pouch. It 
was sent entire, preserved in spirits, from New Holland, 
by Sir Thomas Brisbane, whose zeal in the promotion of 
science has greatly enriched the zoological collections of 
Britain, and afforded the most liberal and valuable assist- 
ance towards solving many obscure and interesting pro- 
blems of physiology. As the long action of spirits loosens 
the fur of quadrupeds from its connection with the skin, 
and renders specimens so preserved unfit for stuffing, and 
useful only to the anatomist. Professor Jameson, to whom 
this specimen was sent, kindly submitted it to me for dis- 
section, requesting me to preserve the skeleton entire for 
the Royal Museum of this University. Drawings of the 
entire animal, and of several of its parts, were taken from 
this specimen immediately after its arrival by Mr William 
Macgillivray, assistant-keeper of the Museum, and are de- 
signed to form a part of the ensuing Number of Mr James 
Wilson's highly interesting, popular and splendid " Illus- 
trations of Zoology." 
Although the dimensions of the specimen, submitted to 
my examination, were somewhat less than those of the spe- 
