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Show 478 ON MAMMALS FROM SOUTH-WEST AUSTRALIA. [May 1, skulls 45' 1), while the rostral index (78*8) is very considerably less than in any specimens hitherto recorded. The following measurements, when compared with the table I published in 1885*, will show these differences better than any description: - Greatest length. Greatest breadth. Index of breadth. Length of brain-case. Length of rostrum. Rostral index. Interorbital breadth. 123 S ... 104 47-8 45-9 56*5 435 76-9 15*5 124 S ... 103-5 467 45-1 54-5 43 78-8 15 125 $ ... 103-8 46 443 54-5 44 80-7 15*5 Averages... 103-7 46-8 45-1 55-1 43"o 78-8 15-3 Averages''I in true aculecita J 110-9 45-7 41-2 53-4 532 99-7 - As usual in mainland specimens there are no condyloid vacuities. Nasal and anterior palatine foramina short. Postorbital projection unusually strongly marked. Anterior, cylindrical, part of zygomata bowed downwards, so as to form a more or less downwardly projecting angle ; as a result of this, when the skull is laid on a flat surface the tip of the muzzle stands up some way above the surface, as though the muzzle itself were bent upwards; in true aculeata it lies perfectly flat. External dimensions of the type, taken in the flesh :- Head and body 420 mm. ; tail 90; hind foot 55. Type. Adult male. B.M. No. 6.8.1.363. Original number 123, Collected 16 August, 1905. The first discoverer of the Echidna in Western Australia was Mr. Gilbert, who, in collecting for Mr. Gould about 1840, obtained specimen h of the 4 Catalogue of Marsupials.' Another example, in every way similar to those now sent by Mr. Shortridge, was presented to the Museum by Baron F. von Muller in 1888." The animal has therefore long been known to inhabit this region, but for a knowledge of its correct affinities we are indebted to the uniform series presented by Mr. Balston. That West Australia should possess a special race is only natural, since New Guinea, Eastern Australia, and Tasmania have each a characteristic form. In Mr. Rothschild's recent description of Echidna hystrix multiacuLeata t no reference is made to the skull; but from the locality (South Australia) and the presence of hairs between the spines it would appear to have nothing to do with T. a. ineptus. * P. Z. S. 1885, p. 335. f Nov. Zool. xii. p. 306 (1905). |