more so with the little Tarsipes : both animals have delicate heads with weak jaws, and the teeth standing far apart; 
both possess a long slender tongue, a harsh fur, and four mammae, like all true Phalangers. We have not been able 
to ascertain whether any marsupial bones are present; if so they are very small, as in a specimen under examination 
they could not be felt. 
Ihe statement made by some authors that the number of mamma; is eight, and that from five to nine 
young are produced in a litter, is erroneous. We have had an opportunity to examine several female specimens, every 
one ol which had only r four teats, generally all drawn, and proving the production of four young only r . 
The Myrmecohim is common on the West Coast and in the interior of New South Wales and South Australia; 
the Murrumbidgee Rner may be taken as its most eastern boundary". The food of this animal is said to consist of 
ants anti then eggs , but it is probably augmented by honey and other vegetable substances, for the extraction of 
which from flowers or the hives of the wild bee it is well adapted. 
i-j 
GENUS PHASCOGALE. 
Dasyundae, with the two foremost incisors of the upper and lower jaw larger than the others; premolars 
ti Lie molars studded with prickly tubercles ; those of the upper jaw with triangular crowns ; the last tooth very 
narrow and transverse. Five toes to each root, the inner toe of the hind foot a nailless thumb. Tail long and bushy, 
mammae eight, pouch absent. 
Brush-tailed Phascogale ( Phascogale penicillata). 
Fur rather long and soft, grey, pencilled with white, beneath white; tail long, black, and bushy towards the 
tip, basal portion covered with short grey hairs. 
Habitat — Australia generally, with the exception of the most southern parts of Tasmania. 
This species was already known to the first settlers, and figured as far back as 1798, by White, in his Journal, 
under the name of Tapoa tafa. It appears however, that this name is frequently applied to other animals, such as 
Native Cats” or Phalangers. The Brush-tailed Phascogale is about the size of a Rat, arboreal and nocturnal in its 
habits, and a harmless creature, though authors (but not observers) differ on this point, and put the animal down as 
most ferocious and a terror to the hen-roost. It is expert in killing mice, but would certainly not attack a fowl. Like 
all other members of this group, it is in the habit of folding down the ears, which are very seldom carried erect. 
Handsome- t a 1 1 1; n Phascogale ( Phascogale caluraj. 
General colour ashy grey with a wash of brown, beneath whitish ; tail covered at the base with short rust- 
coloured hairs, tip forming a brush of black hairs. 
The habitat is given by authors as Western Australia; it occurs how r ever also in New South Wales, near the 
Darling Riser. 
GENUS ANTECHINUS. 
General character of Genus Phascogale : — Tail short, without a brush at the tip ; canines not very prominent, with 
a broad base ; female with a shallow pouch containing from six to ten teats, and with as many young in a litter. 
The greater number of species composing this group of insectivorous marsupials are small, and closely allied to 
each other, so that the classification based upon the colour and length of the fur cannot be depended on. 
Our most prolific author enumerates fourteen species without describing the dentition of one, and after a 
careful examination of animals, the hair of which answered to his description, we have arrived at the conclusion that 
the following number can only be retained as specific examples : — 
Tasmanian Antechinus (Antechinus swainsonii) . 
The largest of the genus, general colour dusky r -brown or almost black. Specimens occur however which are more 
of a rust colour. Beneath more or less greyish white. Total length eleven inches. 
Habitat — Tasmania. 
