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Show 1895.] MB. F. E. BEDDABD ON DENDEOLAGUS BENNETTI. 131 the specific validity of the forms respectively so called, as the positions of both need much further investigation. Nor should I even like to say positively that P. africanus is specifically distinct from the large South-Italian Weasels, of which many more specimens will be needed before we can say whether or no they grade into the Maltese representative of the group. Indeed the only points that I can claim to have made out with any certainty are (1) that P. africanus is a genuine African animal, found in Egypt, and (2) that a practically identical form occurs in Malta. 4. On the Visceral Anatomy and Brain of Dendrolagus bennetti. B y F B A N K E. B E D D A R D , M.A., F.R.S., Prosector to the Society. [Eeceived January 14, 1895.] So far as I am aware the only published account of the visceral anatomy of this genus is a paper by the late Sir Richard Owen 2 which, moreover, deals with a different species. It seemed to m e therefore to be worth while to put on record such additional facts as I have been able to observe concerning the structure of this aberrant genus. Before proceeding to describe the anatomy of the viscera, there are two external characters to which I should like to call attention. The first of these relates to the colour of the fur: the shorter and deeper-lying hairs iu many parts of the body are of a pink colour, like that which colours the throat of Macropus rubens. This pink hue does not appear until the fur is ruffled and the deeper hair brought into view. As to the second point, I must first refer to a paper by the late Prof. Garrod' upon. Dorcopsis luctuosa. In that paper he described " four large and conspicuous glandular hair-follicles in the middle line, arranged to form a square," lying in the skin between the jaws. These are figured 3. I observed nothing in Dendrolagus of so obvious an appearance as the structures figured by Garrod; but, when the skin was removed, two small black hair-follicles were easily visible lying side by side. From the apex of each of these proceeds a hair, which is not any longer than the other hairs upon the throat. I examined a specimen of Petrogale penicillata, and found that it exactly resembled Dendrolagus bennetti in this respect. Whether these structures represent in a rudimentary form the large and complicated sternal glands of Myrmecobius 4 and Didelphys dimidiata 5 I a m unable to say. 1 "Notes on the Anatomy of the Tree-Kangaroo (Dendrolagus inustus, Gould)," P. Z. S. 1852, p. 103. 2 " O n the Kangaroo called Halmaturus luctuosus by d'Albertis, and its Affinities," P. Z. S. 1875, p. 48. 3 Loc. cit, pi. viii. 4 " Note on a Point in the Structure of Myrmecobius,''1 P. Z. S. 1887, p. 527. 5 "Note on the Sternal Gland of Didelphys dimidiata," P. Z. S. 1888, p. 353 9* |
