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Show 1867.] DR. J. MURIE ON PHASCOLOMYS PLATYRHINUS. 799 latifrons, it nevertheless has sufficed, through Mr. Bartlett's skill in taxidermy, for a mounted skin to be prepared. The skull, the skeleton, and the skin of this large Wombat, as I shall hereafter point out, correspond in all essentials to what on the former occasion I was led to regard as Phascolomys platyrhinus. But, before entering into a consideration of the differentiation presented in the axial and appendicular skeleton of the existing species of Wombat, I deem it necessary to revert to some of m y former statements, and to append some fresh information concerning the ostensible relation between the skins and crania of the three species. Exterior Aspect. Under the head of colour and general external appearance I shall chiefly confine m y remarks to those distinguishing the Platyrhine from the Common Wombat; for the Hairy-nosed or Broad-fronted species (P. latifrons) is not so readily confounded with either of the first-mentioned ones as those two are between themselves. The accompanying lithograph (Pl. X X X V . ) of the large specimen in question from Sydney and another, smaller, browner-coloured animal conveys a tolerable good idea of P. platyrhinus, at least of the more distinguishing features of the species. This large animal is seen to possess an intermediate gradation of colour between what I formerly termed the " pale" and "brown" varieties. Thus, while more nearly approaching the colour of the " big yellow fellow " of the Australian natives (P. latifrons, Gould* and P. setosus, Grayf*) on the sides & c , it still retains upon the back a partial likeness to Dr. Gray's P. angasii. As the illustration shows, the limbs and sides of the body in it are more or less of a yellowish (isabelline) colour, which towards the back assumes a darker and browner shade. The nape of the neck, as formerly described in Mr. Bush's specimen of P. platyrhinus, is darkest, the hairs there being more tipped with black, and, as in it (which I here give as an example of the brown variety), the median line of the back exhibits a continuation of the dark colour backwards to the rump. The three varieties of P. platyrhinus respectively denominated by me the "pale," the "brown," and the "black" would seem, therefore, in this later-acquired specimen to be further proved to graduate the one into the other-that is to say, if the living animal in the Society's Gardens, which Mr. Gould has named P. niger, should, as I suppose, turn out to be only a black variety of P. platyrhinus - a fact yet to be ascertained by an examination of its skeleton. I find, moreover, that in each of the three species of living W o m bat there is a certain tendency to variation in the shade of colour. As regards the Platyrhine Wombat, I have already mentioned this, and shall only add that there is a tiny young one in the British Museum of a perfect (isabelline) yellow tint. Of the specimens of Common * Mammals of Australia, 1863, vol. i. text, and plates 57, 58. f Annals and Magazine of Nat. Hist. 1863, vol. xi. p. 457. |
