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Show 7 7 4 MR. OLDFIELD THOMAS OX [Nov. 13, In the skull, the bulla? of lesueuri are decidedly smaller than in yrayi-a difference already noted in the 4 Catalogue of Marsupials/ Gould's Hypsiprymnus grayi was described from the Swan River; and this name will therefore stand for the continental form. Its type is in the Museum, B.M. No. 41.1157. 44. L agostrophus fa sc ia tu s Per. & Les. Three males ; five females. In 1807 Peronand Lesueur described the Banded Wallaby from specimens obtained on this very island; so that Mr. Shortridge's examples are absolute topotypes, and as such of very great interest, no specimens having been again obtained from the islands until quite recently. In 1900, however, the British Museum received from the Perth Museum two skins from Dorre Island; but these were put away without any special comparison being made of them with the mainland form. Indeed, at that date, before the Balston Exploration, no specimens well-enough collected to form the basis of a comparison were available in this country. Now, however, that the Balston series contains sets from both localities, I am able to state that the two forms-the one from the islands about lat. 25° S., and the other from the Perth and Avon regions of the mainland, about lat. 32° S.-are quite definably different. The latter would bear the name of L. fasciatus albipilis Gould, whose co-types are nos. 44.9.30.1 & 2 of the British Museum collection. As the present specimens show, true L. fasciatus is a rather shorter-tailed animal than albipilis; the fur is shorter, the general colour is paler, the ears are both shorter and paler-coloured than in the allied form, the long white-ringed piles of the coat are less prominent and numerous, and the bristle-hairs of the toes only cover the base of the claws, while in albipilis they considerably surpass the latter; the claws are also longer in fasciatus, surpassing the tip of the toes by from 2 to 5 111111. more than is the case in albipilis. The following are the measurements of a pair of each subspecies, taken in the flesh by Mr. Shortridge :- L. fasciatus fasciatus.-Bernier Island. Head and body. Tail. Hind foot. Ear. mm. 111111. 111111. mm. 3 ....... 400 330 106 48 400 355 110 51 L. fasciatus albipilis.-Avon District. 410 405 112 62 400 390 110 60 I can find 110 tangible difference between the Dorre and Bernier Island examples of L. fasciatus, |
