RABBIT-EARED PERAMELES. 
363 
Inches. Lines. 
Length from tip of nose to root of tail 18 
44 of tail ... ... ... 9 
44 from nose to eye . 
44 44 to ear .. ... 4 
“ of car ... ... . 3 
Breadth of ditto at the base ... 2 
Length of fore foot, not including 
the claws ... . 
44 of hind foot, not including 
the claws ... ... ... 3 
0 
6 
6 
9 
1 
10 b 
Inches. Lines. 
16 4 
9 7 
2 5 
5 2 
4 0 
2 0 
1 6 
4 1 
The skull of tlie Perameles lagotis is much elongated, especially 
in the facial portion ; its zygomatic arches are thrown more 
boldly outwards, and are proportionately stronger than in 
other species ; the interorbital space is more contracted, and 
the temporal fossae are therefore larger ; thus indicating 
greater powers in the muscles used in mastication, as does 
also the development of a sagittal crest : this, however, is 
very little raised. The muzzle is rather suddenly contracted 
in width immediately in front of the orbits, and is nearly 
of the same diameter from the tip as far back as the second 
premolar. The nasal bones are very long and narrow, and 
very little expanded behind : they are joined at the apex, in 
a skull in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, by 
two small bones, being part of the nasal cartilage, which is 
ossified, as in the Pigs. The palate presents two long and 
narrow incisive foramina, a large opening in the middle, the 
anterior boundary of which is in a line with the second pre- 
molar, and the posterior boundary in a line with the hinder 
margin of the second true molar; and on the hack part of 
the palate are six small round openings, four of which are 
arranged nearly in the same transverse line, and the remaining 
two are placed in advance of the middle pair ; the two 
outermost of the posterior row are partly bounded by the 
palatine bone, and partly by the palatine portion of the 
superior maxillary bone. The palatine bone, and palatal 
portions of the superior maxillary, interlace very singularly 
in the skull before me, the palatine bone running forwards so 
as to form three lobes, a broad central lobe, and a narrower 
one on either side, the interspaces being filled by the maxillary 
