Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/269

Rh to vegetable food. In general in this family, the pouch is said to have the opening backwards, the reverse of what obtains in the other Marsupialia. In the species just named, however, it opens anteriorly.

The species are found on both sides of the Australian continent, in Van Diemen’s Land, and in New Guinea.

The head in this genus is lengthened and pointed, and the ears moderate, and well clothed with hair. The inner toes of the hind-feet are rudimentary, and the two middle toes are united by a common skin as far as the nails; in the fore-feet, the outer and inner toes are rudimentary, so that they appear to possess but three anterior toes. The claws are large, solid, and but slightly curved, and are well adapted to the burrowing habits of the animals. The teeth are as follows:—inc. *; can. —; false mol. —; mol. — =—48.

"The Bandicoots appear to take in Australia the place of the shrews, tenrecs, and other Insecdgvora in the Old World. .... Their general form and contour is rabbit-like, but the muzzle is elongated, narrow, and pointed, the nose advancing considerably beyond the jaw ..... In their movements these animals resemble a rabbit ; they do not, like the Kangaroo, bound from the hind-limbs alone, but, arching the back, proceed with a saltigrade gait, that is halfway between running and jumping; or rather by a succession of short leaps from the hind to the fore-feet, but not with much speed, nor maintained for a great length