Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 6

Entomophaga.—Bandicoot-Tribe

page 13

Entomophaga.—Bandicoot-Tribe.

Perameles.

P. nasuta. New South Wales.

P. Gunnii. Tasmania.

P. myosurus. West Australia.

P. fasciata. South Australia.

P. obesula. Southern Australia and Tasmania.

The Bandicoots are distributed over every part of Australia, hut never in great numbers; the first species is of the size of a rabbit, and the next three are as largo as a common Norway rat. The last is heavier, but stands very low on its legs, and .has a harsh and coarse fur. The tribe did not receive sufficient attention from naturalists, who generally fail to give a description of the teeth; it is highly probable that another species or two exist in the north and in New Guinea, and that some of our continental animals, such as P. myosurus and P. fasciata, are varieties only.

Peragalea.

P. lagotis. Rabbit-eared Peragalea or Rabbit-rat of the Colonists.

An aberrant form of the Peramelidæ;, with rather long compressed and crested tail, inhabiting the interior of South Australia, New South Wales, and West Australia, The head is very elongate, the ears long, and the fur soft and silky; the canine teeth are strong and recurved, very powerful, and the grinders conical, without fangs, except a few tubercles. The Peragalea burrows, and is not gregarious, a pair only occupying one of the warrens.

Chæ Ropus.

C. castanotis. The interior of New South Wales, South, and West Australia.

The Chæropus is known as the pig-footed Bandicoot, having only two functional toes to the fore-feet; the hind legs are like those of the Kangaroo and Bandicoot. The teeth of this animal are feeble, in particular the canines; the tail resembles that of the Peragalea, with a crest of hair on the upper edge.

The dentition of the Bandicoots resembles the carnivorous section, the Dasyures.