THE PERAMELES NASUTA. 
189 
The animal resembles a large brown rat, in having 
straight, stiff, dark brown hair; a low stature; a length- 
ened form of the trunk, which is nearly of equal thickness 
in the thorax and abdomen ; a tapering, long, conical head ; 
large and nearly naked, membranous ears ; a long, thin, 
and regularly tapering tail. The hair on the upper parts 
of the head and body, and on the tail and legs, is of a 
dark, reddish-brown colour, which gradually passes into 
greyish white on the lower parts of the head, neck, chest, 
and belly. The fur is pretty compact, and lies flat, pre- 
senting a smooth, glossy surface ; it consists of dark co- 
loured bristly straight hairs, about an inch in length, and 
a softer short w^hite woolly hair. The long straight hairs 
have a singular broad and compressed form in their middle, 
and taper towards both extremities; they are of a greyish 
colour at the roots, and become nearly black at their broad 
parts and free extremities ; there are whiskers, consisting 
of several long straight, dark bristles on the upper lip, imme- 
diately above each canine tooth ; and similar tufts of long 
bristles on the cheeks between the angle of the mouth and 
the eye. M. Desmarest likewise remarked, that the hairs 
were of a grey colour at their roots, and yellow or black 
at the points; " whence,^' he says, " there results a general 
light brown tinge, which has a close resemblance to that of 
the field-mouse.'' Daubenton observed the contrary in the 
hair of the Opossum, where they were of a shining grey 
colour at their free extremities. The nose projects half an 
inch beyond the extremity of the lower jaw ; it is naked 
above for the space of three quarters of an inch from the 
point, and the prominent part is soft and cartilaginous for 
more than a quarter of an inch beyond the protuberance 
of the upper jaw-bone. The external openings of tlie nos- 
trils have a curved form, with their convexity directed 
downwards and backwards, produced by a semicircular 
