INTRODUCTION. 
XVII 
tralia — the south-eastern portions of the continent and Van Diemen’s Land being the localities to which it is 
confined. 
The spiny Echidna hystrix has not yet been found to the northward of Moreton Bay on the east coast, 
and, except in New South Wales and the islands in Bass’s Straits, it is very rare — so rare indeed, that I 
have never seen a specimen from South Australia ; yet in all probability it will be found there, since Mr. 
Gilbert obtained an example at Swan River ; this individual, however, did not come under my notice, and I 
am therefore unable to say if it were a true E. hystrix , or a western representative of that species. 
The more hairy Echidna setosa is confined to Van Diemen’s Land; but it is questionable whether it he 
really distinct from E. hystrix ; the more southern position and colder climate of that island may have had 
the effect of giving it a warmer coat, whiter spines, and of altering its general appearance. 
The single species representing the genus Myrmecohius ( M . fasciatus ) appears to be more plentiful in the 
Swan River Settlement than elsewhere ; it nevertheless occurs in the Murray Scrub and other parts of South 
Australia, and from thence to the western coast it probably inhabits every locality suited to its habits and 
mode of life. 
Like the Myrmecohius , the little honey-lapping Tarsipes rostratus stands quite alone — and a truly singular 
creature it is : to give the area over which it ranges is impossible, as we know far too little of these dimi- 
nutive mammals to come to any positive conclusion on this point ; at present, the neighbourhood of King 
George’s Sound is one of the localities in which it has been seen in a state of nature. 
Isolated in form and differing in the structure of its feet from every other known quadruped is the Chce- 
ropus, an animal which frequents the hard grounds of the interior, over which it is dispersed from New 
South Wales to Western Australia. The specific term of ecaudatus , first applied to this animal in conse- 
quence of the specimen characterized being destitute of the caudal appendage, must now sink into a synonym, 
that organ being as well developed in this as in any other of the smaller quadrupeds, the Perameles for 
instance, to which this singular animal is somewhat allied. 
The root-feeding Dalgyte, or Peragalea lagotis, leads us still nearer to the genus Perameles : the fauna of 
Western Australia is greatly enriched by the addition of this beautiful species. I believe that South Aus- 
tralia may also lay claim to it ; for I have seen a tail, said to have been obtained on the south coast, which 
greatly resembled that of the Swan River Peragalea ; but it may have pertained to an allied animal with 
which we are not yet acquainted. 
The members of the restricted genus Perameles are numerous in species, and universally dispersed over 
the whole of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land ; they also extend in a northerly direction to New Guinea 
and the adjacent islands. Of this genus there are two well-marked divisions : one distinguished by bands on 
their backs or crescentic markings across their rumps and by their diminutive tails, the other by a uniformity 
in their colouring. The species of the former division inhabit the hot stony ridges bordering the open 
plains ; those of the latter the more humid forests, among grass and other dense vegetation. Figures of 
