OCR Text |
Show 50 MR. A. H. GARROD ON HALMATURUS LUCTUOSUS. [Feb. 2, The following Table gives the most important measurements of the skin of the female Dorcopsis luctuosa, compared with specimens of the same sex of Dorcopsis muelleri aud Macropus brunii. Lengths &c. From tip of nose to base of tail Tail From tip of nose to occiput Fore limb Hind limb , ... From heel to end of nail of fourth toe ... Length of ear Circumference of base of tail From knee to knee over the back Borcopsis luctuosa 2 • in. 24 13-25 5-0 575 10-75 4-75 1-4 4-25 14-0 Borcopsis muelleri 9. in. 20-25 15-4 5-0 675 12-55 4-75 1*25 Macropus brunii 9. in. 21-0 11-75 40 4-75 10-5 50 1-75 20 17-0 The general contour of the body is quite Macropine; the breadth at the hips, however, is somewhat small. The hair is soft, short, and of a nearly uniform length all over the skin. The head is elongate and conical, the muffle naked, the eyes large and antilopine. The colour of the upper surface and sides of the head* and back is uniformly blackish with a silvery gloss, each hair being whitish at its base for two fifths of its length, black for the next two fifths, and white at the tip. On the ventral surface a broad longitudinal white band extends from the line joining the angles of the mouth, backwards along the neck and belly as far as the pouch, behind and from the sides of which it continues towards the tail of a true slate-colour as far as the cloacal orifice, between which spot and the base of the tail it is again white. This white band occupies the whole of the region between the angles of the jaw, and continues down the neck over the abdomen of a slightly greater width. It only encroaches on the sides of the body by sending an expansion into each axilla, which is visible laterally just behind the elbow. There is no lateral transverse white stripe across the front of the thigh, like that so strongly marked in M. brunii; and, unlike this last named species, the light grey, nearly white stripe above and parallel to the lip is very insignificant, and does not extend backwards under the eye. The ear is rounded, black inside and out, with a slight white line formed by the similarly coloured roots of the there exposed hairs bounding the auditory meatus anteriorly. The non-exposed surfaces of both the arm proper and the thigh are of a pale grey. The other parts of both the fore and hind limbs are black. The nails of both the fore and hind limbs are short and Macropine. * The silvery white spot on the top of the head, mentioned in D'Albertis' description, is not produced by the presence of white hair, but results from the fact that the spot where it is sometimes seen is the anterior junction of the forward-directed hair of the neck with the backward-directed hair of the frontal region. Its existence depends entirely on the way in which the hair is brushed; and it is not visible except after the natural disposition has been disturbed. |