Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 414 pages of information about Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2.

Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 414 pages of information about Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2.

Number 4.  Scotophilus gouldii, Gray.

Blackish, hinder half of the back brownish; sides and abdomen brownish ash; ears rather large, broad; tragus half ovate; underside of the wings and interfemoral membrane with lines of hairs.

Var. 1.  Hinder part of the back greyish; sides of the abdomen grey. 
Inhabits Australasia, Mr. Gould.

Number 5.  Scotophilus australis, Gray.

Back blackish; tips of the hairs rather browner; beneath rather paler on the sides of the abdomen; ears small; tragus oval lanceolate, rather crescent-shaped; wings, with sixteen or eighteen oblique cross lines of hairs under each fore-arm, and scattered hairs on the sides of the body; fore-arm, bone, 1 5-12; shin bone, 15-24.  Var. rather larger fore-arm bone, 1 7-12; shin bone, 17-24.

Number 6.  Scotophilus pumilus, Gray.

Grey brown, base of the fur blackish, beneath paler; cheeks blackish; ears small, rather thin, longer than the fur; tragus elongate, half as long as the ears, rounded at the end; wings nearly bald, except near the arm-pit; interfemoral membrane hairy at the base; heel-bone elongate, two-thirds the length of the margin of the interfemoral membrane.  Head and body, 1 2-12; tail 11-12; fore-arm bone, 1 2-12.

This species, Mr. Gould notes, flies quick and low over water.

Number 7.  Molossus australis.  See Gray, Magazine of Zoology and Botany volume 2 501.

Number 15.  Dasyurus viverrinus.

Mr. Gould has observed that the black and yellowish varieties are sometimes found together in the same litter.  There is an intermediate variety, blackish, with olive tips to the hairs.  Dr. Shaw’s specific name should be retained.

Number 18.  Phascogale affinis, Gray.

Above brown, grizelled with yellowish-brown tips to the hairs; beneath grey brown; under fur lead colour; tail short.  Male darker; length of body and head 6 1/2; tail 4 1/2.  Female, length of the body and head 4 1/2; tail 2 3/4 inches.  Inhabits Tasman’s Peninsula, Mr. Gould.

This may be the same as P. minima of Geoffroy, but the tail is longer for its size.

Number 19.  Phascogale rufogaster, Gray.

Head grey; back and sides brown, with longer black hairs; sides of the belly and feet bright rufous; lips and chin whitish; under fur lead colour; tail end blackish-brown, slightly pencilled.  Body and head, 4; tail, 2 inches.  Inhabits South Australia, Mr. Gould.

Number 22.  Phascogale leucogaster, Gray.

Head and shoulders grey, behind rather browner, with scattered longer black-tipped hairs; chin and beneath pure white; feet brownish grey.  Body and head, 4; tail, 2 1/2 inches.

Inhabits Western Australia, banks of the Canning River, April 1839, Mr. Gould.

More specimens and further observations may prove these to be only local varieties of one species; but the specimens we have from the same localities are similar in character, which is not the case with the different specimens of Hepoona.

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