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Show 468 MR. OLDFIELD THOMAS ON [May 1, pital portion of back of the head, the measurements show that most of the bones of the skull are differently proportioned. The width of the face in S. vellerosus, moreover, is very much greater than in S. v. fuliginosus. 2. On Mammals collected in South-west Australia for Mr. W . E . Balston. By O l d f i e l d T h om a s , F.R.S.* [Received March 7, 1906.] Following the generous example of our President and Mr. 0. D-Rudd, Mr. W. E. Balston has been good enough to defray the expenses of a zoological collector, working for the benefit of our National Museum. The country chosen is Western Australia, where Mr. Balston has many personal interests, and where few Mammals have been collected since Mr. Gilbert, about 1842, made a collection for Mr. Gould, who was then preparing his great work on the Mammals of Australia. For his exploration of Western Australia Mr. Balston has secured the services of Mr. Guy C. Shortridge, who had already had experience in Pondoland, South Africa, where he had collected Mammals and Birds for the South African Museum. The collections worked out in the present paper were obtained during the end of 1904 and the course of 1905 from the following localities:- King River, on Mr. Balston's estate near Albany, King George's Sound, where Mr. Shortridge had the assistance of Mr. Balston's sons. Wagin, on the railway halfway towards Perth. Beverley, just south of York, about 70 miles east of Perth. York, Northam, Toodyay, and the Wongan Hills, all near together, are the localities which most frequently occur on Mr. Gilbert's labels. Southern Cross, on the Eastern Railway, about 220 miles east of Perth. Kalgurli, the gold-mining town, 140 miles further east, and about 200 miles from the south coast. Laverton, 150 miles N.E. of Kalgurli, and about 470 miles inland from the west coast at Geraldston. While the collections made at the first four places are full of interest and value, it has been a great disappointment to find that the gold-field country, at the two last-named localities, does not contain any desert mammal fauna, Mr. Shortridge having found that practically all mammals were absent except Bats. This seems to be due to the fact that the whole area is saline, without fresh water of any sort. Still further east, on the Spinifex flats, Mr. Shortridge has hopes of finding a desert fauna * [The complete account of the new species described in this communication appears here; but since the names and preliminary diagnoses were published in the * Abstract,' such species are distinguished by the name being underlined.- E d i t o r .] |