ANNALS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM, No. 5. 
15 
colouring, however, the new wombat seems to differ rather con- 
siderably from its ally, but until we are better acquainted with the 
limits of variability in this respect imposed on each, divergencies of 
the kind have not much defining value. In the proportions of the 
head the two wombats differ distinctly, the Queensland animal having 
this considerably longer, and between the eyes broader, though 
between the ears no broader ; it is also longer in the body and shorter 
in the leg, but on such differences, also, it it not altogether safe to 
rely until they are known to be beyond the extreme limits of specific 
variability. 
From external characters, which, as far as we know, do not quite 
enable us to determine the question at issue, appeal lies naturally to 
the skull (Plate IX.). This leaves no room for doubt. Its characters 
in three examples of different ages and both sexes are as constant as 
those of any of the known species, and its differential features are 
scarcely less pronounced. They are as follows : — Skull broader in 
proportion to its length than in the other species, frontal absolutely 
shorter, and nasals at the nasal orifice much broader; nasals extending 
backward (between the frontals, lachrymal protuberance well de- 
veloped ; nasal spine of the intermaxillary high and projecting ; all 
the nasal sutures, especially the naso-frontal, intricately interlocking. 
It will be observed that in the proportions of the skull, the 
shortness of the frontals, anterior breadth of the nasals, the project- 
ing nasal spine, and in the pronounced ramification of the naso-frontal 
suture,* the skull stands aloof from those of the other wombats; in the 
cuneiform extension of the nasals between the frontals, and the 
greater prominence of the lachrymal tuberosity it agrees with the skulls 
of PP. platyrhinus and ursinus. Yet these signs of affinity with the 
naked-nosed wombats and these peculiarities of its own notwithstanding, 
its facies is that of P. latifrons. 
External Characters, Plate X. 
In the flat and wrinkled skin of an immature male with the fur 
close and comparatively long (25 mm.), the colour is a tortoise-shell- 
like mixture of deep fawn, black, and grey, the first predominating on 
the head and flanks, the black (caused by an excess of hairs largely 
tipped with black) on the back, and the grey on the abdomen and 
inner surface of the limbs ; preocular region, middle of chin and 
perineal hair as in the female ; inner surfaee of ears fawn ; scrotal 
region white. 
In a stuffed female of adult age with shorter and scantier fur, 
the general colour is grey, mottled with black where the black bases of 
the hairs show through, and washed with fawn, especially on the rump 
and back ; rhinarium brown, passing into the colour of the upper 
surface ; a broad curved blotch before and a spot behind the eye 
black ; no white marks on the head ; inner surface of ears, throat, 
chest, and mammary glands white ; middle of chin, outer surface of 
* A minute corrugation of the edges of these ramification has been omitted in 
the figure. 
