| OCR Text |
Show 1892.] ON NOTORYCTES TYPHLOPS. 361 the ventral pair of setae: the anterior atrial pore of one side of the body lies a little in front of, and to the outside of, the pair of setse : the posterior atrial pore, on the other hand, has a slightly different relation to the pair of seta3 of its segment; it is placed a little behind the setae. The pore of the single vas deferens again differs in position from both of these apertures ; it lies on the same level as, but to the outside of, the ventral setse of its segment, which is of course the xviiith, I am disposed to believe that Rosa's " Acanthodilus " spegazzinii will prove to be congeneric with this species. 6. O n the Systematic Position of Notoryctes typhlops. By H A N S G A D O W , Ph.D., M.A., Lecturer on Advanced Morphology of Vertebrata, and Strickland Curator, University of Cambridge. [Eeceived April 9, 1892.] Professor Stirling had kindly entrusted me with his most valuable material of Notoryctes before this was distributed to various museums. He asked m e to fix the systematic position of this new mammal more precisely than he had been able to do, because of want of time and opportunity. He also modestly wanted me to verify and to supplement his own work 1. This was both an easy and a difficult task. His two papers on Notoryctes contain a most carefully worked out description of the creature, and, with the exception of some important characters concerning the teeth and the cloacal region, leave nothing that could be of general interest and bear upon the question of the position of Notoryctes in the system. There are still some points which have not been worked out fully, e. g. the vascular, muscular, and nervous systems, but these will undoubtedly be investigated in due time. Professor Stirling has discussed the whole matter with me thoroughly during his several visits to Cambridge; several parts of Notoryctes we redissected together and many questions were studied, so that the following pages might well form a paper of conjoint authorship; but, unfortunately for me, his time in Cambridge was limited, and thus I have become the only responsible author. The advance copy of the ' Handlist of Australian Mammals,' by Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby, contains many important remarks on the systematic position of Notoryctes, with which we are unable to agree. This has necessitated, unfortunately, more argumentative reasoning in the following pages than would have been the case had Notoryctes been left in a less ambitious position than that of a link between the Proto- and Metatheria. The creature is interesting enough as a Marsupial. 1 E. 0. Stirling, "Description of a new Genus and Species of Marsupialia (Notoryctes typhlops)," Trans. R. S. South Australia, 1891, pp. 154-187, pis. ii.- ix.; " Further Notes on the Habits and Anatomv of Notoryctes typhlops," ibid. 1891, pp. 283-291, pi. xii. |
