HORN RXPP:DITI0N—MAMMALIA. 
39 
coloured in its proximal half; but it is not so stout in D. byr 7 iei as in Ph. 
cristicauda, nor is it incrassatecl. 
Habitat .—Central Australia. Terrestrial; burrowing ; insectivorous. Living 
in burrows on sandy and stony table-lands. Nocturnal. 
My specimens were secured at Charlotte Waters, and T am indebted for them 
to the kindness of my friend INIr. P. M. Byrne, whose name I have much pleasure 
in associating with the species. Whilst collecting at Charlotte Waters in February, 
1895, I had the opportunity of seeing both Dasyuroides byrnei and Fhascologale 
cristicauda alive. The superficial resemblance of the two is remarkable, and so 
striking that even the blackfellows insisted upon the male of the former being that 
of the latter species, which is rarely found. It was a curious fact that the females 
of the first and the males of the second were very rare. 
As at present defined, this species cannot be placed in either of the genera 
Sminthopsis or Phascologale. In certain respects it presents characters at present 
regarded as distinctive of one or tlie other, while it differs markedly from both of 
them in the absence of a hallux. To have associated it with these forms would 
have meant the merging of the two genera into one another, and the additional 
widening of the characters so as to include a non-hallucated form. The only other 
alternative was the creation of a new genus, and I therefore adopted this plan, 
though it may be pointed out that the genera Phascologale and Sminthopsis stand 
in need of revision. 
Dasyuroides may be regarded as a genus closely allied to both Phascologale 
and Sminthopsis, and serving at the same time as an approach to Dasyurus. 
These relationships are indicated in the following points : — 
The general form of the body closely resembles that of the larger Phascologales 
or of a very small Dasyurus, and is very different from, that is, much less slender 
than that of even the largest Sminthopsis (S. Virginia). 
The shape of the hind feet is neither that of a Phascologale nor of <a Smin¬ 
thopsis. Judging merely by the length, the only dimension given in description, 
it might naturally be supposed that the foot was more or less similar in its 
proportions to such a form as Ph. wnllncei, for example. This, however, is far 
from being the case, as, though the two animals agree in length of body and foot, 
yet the latter in D. byrnei is very much narrower than that of Ph. tvallacet, and 
when placed side by side* they are seen to belong to two entirely different types of 
* That is, comparing the foot of D. byrnei with that of Ph. wnllacei represented in pi. xxiii. of the Brit. Mus. 
Cat. of Marsupials and Monotremes, 1888. 
