PERAMELES. 
359 
hind foot wanting; lower half of the fibula firmly joined to 
the tibia ; pouch with its opening directed towards the head 
of the animal l . 
The above are the principal points of distinction which 
present themselves upon comparing the Pbrameles lagotis 
(the only known species of the present section) with other 
species of Perameles : the differences are, several of them, 
comparative. Tn other species the tarsus is partially covered 
with hair beneath, but in none is it so much clothed as in the 
animal just mentioned. Of the inner toe of the liinct* foot 
there is no trace externally, and in the skeleton we find only 
a rudimentary metatarsal bone, whilst in the animals of the 
next section (Perameles proper) there are always one or two 
phalanges to the inner toe, and a small nailless tubercle is 
visible before the flesh is removed. The fur of the Babbit¬ 
eared Perameles is remarkable, as compared with that of its 
congeners, for being extremely soft, and having no admixture 
of coarse and spiny hairs. 
1 Such appeared to me to be clearly the case in a stuffed specimen of the 
Perameles lagotis preserved in the museum of the Zoological Society. This 
specimen, which is the original of Mr. Reid’s description, was stated to have 
been procured in Van Diemen's Land, but 1 was informed by the gentleman 
who sent it to England that this was an error, he having obtained it in the 
Swan River district. Before this specimen was mounted, and in some respects 
could then be more carefully examined, Mr. Reid ascertained that it possessed 
nine mamnue, or nipples, eight of which were arranged at equal distances from 
each other, and around the ninth. 
