SHORT-NOSE I) PERAMELES. 
371 
lowisli. The specimen from the Darling Downs, the dimen¬ 
sions of which are given in the fifth column, is of an unusually 
rich tint, the hairs on the upper parts of the body being 
pencilled with black and rich yellow-brown, inclining to 
orange; the under parts of the body are of a dirty yellow- 
white tint ; the hind feet pale rusty brown ; the inner 
surface of the ears is for the most part clothed with rich 
yellow hairs ; externally the ears are blackish. 
The skull of Perameles obesula difFers from that of most 
other species of Perameles in having the muzzle less at¬ 
tenuated and less elongated, and the palate less imperfect— 
that is to say, the openings are proportionately smaller: the 
incisive openings are narrow, about three lines, or rather less, 
in length; a second pair of openings are situated opposite 
the first premolar; these are unusually small, varying from 
half a line to one line in length; the third or principal pair 
of palatine openings are sometimes divided and sometimes 
confluent; they commence opposite the principal premolar, 
and terminate very nearly in a line with the hinder margin 
of the second true molar. Besides these, there are four 
(sometimes only tw r o) small round openings in the hinder part 
of the palatine bone, and tw T o rather larger foramina, one on 
either side at the back of the palate. The auditory bullce 
are rather large, (larger than in P. myosuros and P. fasciata), 
having the largest diameter from G to 5^- lines in the skulls 
of which the dimensions are given. The liindermost upper 
incisor is smaller than the fourth, pointed, and situated nearer 
to the preceding incisor than in most other species, there 
being at most a space of three quarters of a line in six skulls 
examined, but usually about half a line. 
