Page:The mammals of Australia Gould vol 1.djvu/227

 Murine Antechinus.

Phascogale murina, Waterh. in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 75.— Ib. Nat. Lib., Marsupialia, p. 143. pi. 10.

Phascogale (Antechinus) murina, Waterh. Nat. Hist, of Mamm., p. 425.

subject of the present Plate is another of the little Marsupials described by Mr. Waterhouse, of which my own collection contains two specimens from New South Wales, and which, on comparison with the original in the Museum of the Zoological Society of London, from which Mr. Waterhouse took his description, presents little or no difference. "The A. murinus," remarks Mr. Waterhouse, "is considerably smaller than A. albipes; its general colouring is paler, and its tail is uniformly white. The tarsi are almost entirely covered with hair on the under side, there being only a very narrow naked space running backwards from the digital pads, which are covered with small tubercles." With respect to the tail being entirely white, as remarked by Mr. Waterhouse, this does not appear to be a constant character, the tail of one of my specimens being wholly white, while in another it is washed with brown, particularly on the upper surface; and I am led to believe that the white tail is characteristic of immaturity, and not of the adult state. It must be admitted that it is a species, the distinctness of which from A. albipes is not very apparent. I have, however, no doubt of its being different, and in confirmation of this view I may state that it was sent to me as such by Mr. Gilbert, who, when writing from the Darling Downs in New South Wales, prior to joining Dr. Leichardt's expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, in which his valuable life was unfortunately sacrificed, says, "I caught this species on the banks of the river Severn; the male is much larger in all its proportions than the female, and has a darker mark around and before the eye."

Fur very soft; upper parts of the body ashy grey; under parts and feet white; tail silvery white; ears clothed with minute pale hairs, becoming brownish in front on the outer surface; eyes encircled with black; fur of the under surface grey at the base.

The figures are of the natural size.