451 MR. E. R. ALSTON O N ANrECEINOMYS. [June 15,

(184G), 2nd eaiition, p. 12 (1863), nec A. tihetensis, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. .1843, xii. p. 409.

‘“A. hobac, Schreber’ (partim), Blyth, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. SOC. p. 108 (1863), nec Schreber.

“ ‘ A . hemachalanus, Hodgson,’ Jerdon, h m m . India, p. 102 (1867); W. Blanf. J. A. S. B. 1875, xliv. pt. 2, p. 122.

“A. hodgsoni, W. Qlanf., Scientific Results of the Second Yarkaud Mission, Mammalia, p. 35, note.”

-- Prof. Mivart stated that on Tuesday 8 th irist. the Secretary of

the Botanical Society ill the Regent’s Park, Mr. W. Sowerby, F.L.S., had his attention called to some small animals living in the tank of the Victoria-regia house. On examination these animals had turned out to be Medusae I, which were thus found to be inhabitants of fresh water, a circumstance which Prof. Rfivart believed to be unprecedented. These animals were subsequently found to becorrie torpid, and fall to the bottom almost motionless, when the water had become as cool as 5G0 Fahr. ; but upon tlie water becoming warmed up to P 5 O they became once more as active as ever, vigorously continuing the contractions of the umbrella. Rlr. Sowerby had informed Prof. Mitart that they were rapidly reproducing young like themselves.

The following papers were read :-

1. On Antechinomys and its Allies. By EDWARD R. ALsToN, Sec.L.S., F.Z.S., &c.

[Received May 29, 1880.1

(Plate XLV.) In March last my friend Mr. J. W. Clark asked me to determine

some spirit-specimens of Mammals belonging to the Museum of the University of Cambridge. The series included a collection of small Austriilian Marsupials, and among these was one which puzzled me not a little. I t s long Chmropus-like limbs and bushy tail gave it the aspect of a member of the family Peramelidse, yet i t evidently he- longed to the Dasyiiridae. I t was only when Mr. Gerrard showed me the type of Phascologale lanigera, Gould’, iu the British Museum that I discovered its identity with that species ; and I think that no one who compares the figure here given (Plate XLV.) with hlr. Gould’s illustration will he snprised that I failed to recognize the latter.

I n a paper commnnicRted to this Society by Mr. G. Krefit, Since named by Mr. E. Ray Lankester Crnspedacustn sowerbii, ‘Nature,’

vol. xnii. p. 147 (June l‘itli, 1880), and by Prof. Allman Liiniwcodizcm victoria, Proo. Linn. Soc. [Zool.] ~01 . XY. p. 131. ’ Mainin. Austr. i. pl. xxriii. (1863, descr. orig.).

.I Smit ;ith

ANTECHINOMYS LANIGERA

P.2.S.1880 Pi XLV

H r m h r r C imp.

1880.1 M R . E. R. ALSTON O h A N T E C H I N O M Y S . 455

C.M.Z.S., in 18G6, he proposed that Phascolognle laniyera should be made the type of a new genns, Antechinomys’. The characters given by him are very brief, and, as the animal appears to be ex- tremely rare in collections, I trust that the following detailed de- scription of this remarkable form will be useful to any zoologist who may undertake the long-needed revision of the Marsupialia. For the opportunity of fully examining the structure of Antechinomys, and of comparing it with that of the allied genera Phascoloyale, Ant- echinus, and Podabrus, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Clark, Dr. Giinther, and Professor Flower.

EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. General form slender ; head proportionally large, legs and tail

greatly elongated. Head narrow, conical ; rnnzzle produced and pointed ; muffle broad, naked, with a slight median groove, but not cleft. Ears large, tapered, rounded at the tips, almost naked, except a t the base and along the front edge, where they are sparsely haired ; in the interior of conch near the base of the anterior margin is a curious free lobe, like the tragus of a Bat, about 0.15 inch in length, and the same in breadth. This lobe is also found in the allied genera. No perceptible pouch.

$%re limbs very long and slender, the forearm being about double the length of the upper arm, scantily clad with short white hairs ; fore feet very small, with five digits, of which the third is the longest, the second and fourth subequal, and the first the shortest, each armed with a small but well-developed claw ; soles with three large pads, covered with minute tubercles. I n Podabrus the fore limbs are rery much shorter, and the soles are similar, hut have five tuber- culated callosities instead of three. In Phascologale and Antechinus, on the other hand, the fore feet are comparatively broad, and the soles are naked, with elongated transversely striated pads.

Hind l imbs nearly as slender and still more elongated, the foot longer than the forearm and nearly as long as the tibia ; the muscles of the leg are only fleshy in their upper moiety, leaving the lower half slender, like that of a bird ; the latter portion and the whole of the foot, except the base of the toes, rather densely clothed with small whitish hairs. Toes four in number, the first being absent, the third and fourth equal and the longest, the second and filth subequal ; claws similar to those of the fore foot ; on the sole a t the base of the toes is a large crescentic callosity covered with small tubercles. I n all the other genera there are five toes, the first being a short nailless thumb, which is placed furthest back in Podabrus, bnt still extends almost to the base of the other digits. In that genus the hind foot is almost as slender as in Antechinomys, although much less elongated ; the metatarsus is more or less hairy behind, and the callosity of the sole is similar, except that i t is divided into three ; the tarsus is almost naked behind. Phascoloyale and Ant- echinus have the hind foot very broad and short, with naked soles and trarisversely striated pads, similar to those of the fore feet.

’ P. z. s. 18GG, p. 431.

456 M R . E. R . ALSTON ON ANTECHIXOMYS. [June 15,

Toil longer than the head and body ; for more than half its length clnd with very short adpressed white and brown hairs ; these then gradually biit rapidly increase in length, and the terminal third of the tail is covered with hairs of about a quarter of an inch in length. l’hascolognle has a similar tail ; but in Antechinus and Podubrus this member is shorter than the head and body, and is clothed throughout with short adpressed hair.

Neusurenaents of the specimen described (a female) in spirits :-

Length of head and body .................... ,, tail (withont hairs) ................

From muzzle to eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Y l ,, to anterior margin of ear-conch . . . .

Length of ear-conch ........................ Breadth of ,, ........................ Length of forearm ..........................

,, fore foot (without claws) . . . . . . . . . . . . ,, longest finger.. .................... ,, lower leg ........................ ,, hind foot (without clews). . . . . . . . . . . . ,, longest liiiid toe (witliout claws) . . . . . . -

Colour of the upper parts brownish mouse-grey, darker on the occiput, paler on the face and upper part of the limbs ; the hairs dusky at their bases, then yellowish white, and mostly tipped with dark brown ; round the eye is an ill-defined dark brown ring, pro- duced in front. All the lower parts, the fore limbs from the elbow, and hind limbs from the middle of the tibia pure white ; the belly with a large almost uaked space, not involved, and showing only traces of the mamnie. The short adpreseed hairs of the basilar part of the tail are mixed white and brown, the former largely pre- ponderating ; the longer hairs towards the end rich dark reddish brown.

S K C q LETOK.

The sXdl of Antechinomye presents no mnrked distinction from that of the allied genera, which agree, as Mr. Waterhouse has remarked’, i n the large size of the brain-case and foramen magnum, and in the feebleness of the muscular ridges, when contrasted with Dasyurus and Z’hylacinus. It is, how ever, comparatively narrow and elongated, and the mandible is very slender, with a high coronoid process.

The verte6rce number :-cerv. 7, dors. 13, lumb. 7, sac. 3 , caud. 25, a formula in which its allies agree, save in the tail. The lumbar vertebra have the spinons processes better developed than in Podu- brus, although comparatively niuch smaller than in Phascologale and Antechinus, while their metapophyses and transverse processes are more feelile than in any of the other genera. The caudal vertebre are yery long and slender, especially towards the extremity of the tail. ’ Net. Hist. Mamm. i. p. 403.

1880.1 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON ANTECHINOMYS. 457

I n the fore limb (fig. 1) the scapula has the usua! characters of the group, the spine being holdly deflected over the postscapular fossa. The humerus, which has the usual supracondylar foramen, is almost straight, slender and simple, with hardly any muscular impressions ; that of Podabrus is quite similar, but in Phascologale and dntechinus the bone is curved, and the deltoid and sopinator ridges are very prominent. The greatly elongated radius is straighter in Antechi- nomys than in the allied forms, and consequently is closely applied to the ulna for the greater part of its length, although remaining perfectly free. The bones of the mnnus are small and delicate.

Fig. 1.

a

Bones of fore limb of A?u'echiizoiiiys (a) and Aitferhi im (I)).

Fig. 2.

I,

Y-

Bones of hind limb of Antechinonzys (a) and Aidechiniis (b).

I n the hind limb (fig. 2) the feinur is even more slender than in Podabrus, arid the lesser trochanter is less developed. The tibia and fibula are elongated ; the latter is very slender, the former compara- tively stout, and so little curved that i t and the fibula, although quite free, are closely applied throughout their lower half; in the other forms these bones are only in contact near their lower estre- mities. The calcaneum is considerably produced behind, forming a very prominent tuber calcis. Only four metatarsals are present (the first being wanting), which are very slender and greatly elongated,

4 58 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON ANTECHINOMYS: [June 15,

the tarso-metatarsus considerably exceeding the femur iu length ; in Phascologale and Antechinus it is only one half, and iri Podabrus about two thirds as long as the femur. The phalanges of the four digits are short and rather delicate.

MUSCLES. I n its myology Antechinomys does not differ strikirigly from its

allies, save that the muscles of the lumbar region are more largely developed, especially the ilio-spinal, quadratus lumborum, and psoas magnus. In the limbs the muscles of the lower arm and leg have only a very short fleshy portion, the tendons forming considerably more than half their whole length. I t is this that gives the peculiar bird-like look to the forearm and metatarsus of the animal, strongly contrnsting with a e stout short limbs of Phascologale and Antechi- nus, and even with the more delicate structure of Podabrus. I n the hind foot the best developed muscles are the extensor cominunis and flexor brevis digitorum ; the extensor aiid flexor pollicis are of course absent.

TEETH. I n dentition I cannot find that Antechinomys differs in any ap-

preciable degree from Poda6rus, or, indeed, from some species of Antechinzcs. The middle upper incisors are curved rather inwards than forwards, and the canines are iiearly equal in size to the largest (third) premolars.

VISCERA. The tongue in Antechinomys is long aiid nariow ; the front part

marked with transverse furrows, corresponding to the palatal ridges. I t is covered with fine filiform papillae, mixed with a few fungiform ; the three circumvallate papillaz are placed in a triangle, and are large, pointed, and directed backwards. In the other forms the tongue is similar, but I was unable to detect the transverse furrows in the specimen of Phascologale penicillata examined.

Fig. 3.

a b

Stomachs of Aittechinomnp (b) and Antechinus (a).

The stomach (fig. 3) is proportionally large, and is almost globular in shape, with the cardiac and pyloric openings near one another: the epithelial lining is smooth and uniform, with a few slight longitudinal puckers. In Podubrus the stomach is of the same form ; but in Phascoloyale and Antechinus it is very different, being transversely elongated, with a considerably produced fundus, and the pyloric opening is placed at the right extremity.

1880.1 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON ANTECHINOMYS. 459

The intestine is perfectly simple and is 6.80 inches long, or little more than twice the length of the animal; I find a similar pro- portion in Podabrus macrourus ; while in Phaseologale penicillata the intestine is less than twice, and in Anteehinus swainsoni more than three times the animal’s length. Possibly the various species may differ in this respect.

Fig. 4.

Liver of Antechinomnys.

T h e liver (fig. 4) resembles that of its allies, the right lateral A gall-bladder lobe being unfissured, while the left is deeply cleft.

is present and the caudate lobe is well developed.

CONCLUSIONS. Before considering the results of the above comparisons, it will be

well to glance a t the literary history of the present group. I n 1827 Temminck established the genus Phascogale’ (more

correctly written Phascologale), the type being the Didelphys peni- cillatus of Shaw. Antechinus was founded by MacLeay on a drawing and incorrect description of an animal which he a t first believed to be an Insectivore ; but when he obtained a skeleton, he was doubtful of its distinction from Phascologale ’. I t was only adopted by Mr. Waterhouse as a “section ” of the latter genus, including the species which have the tail covered throughout with short hair 4 ; but it has been generally accepted, and further characters have been pointed by Mr. Krefft ‘. Podabrus appears to have been first used by Mr. Gould for the slender-footed Phas- eologale crassicaudatus, but without being characterized ‘. Mr. Waterhouse did not recognize it even as a “ section; ” and Mr. Krefft only accepts i t with the proviso that he “cannot ascertain the true characters beyond what Mr. Waterhouse tells us, that it com- prises the Phascogalce with slender feet.” H e adds, however, some characters of his own, one being “Canines small, seldom exceeding the largest premolar in size ; ” but this is a point in which there is considerable variation in the species of both dntechiiius and Podabrus. At the same time, as already stated, Mr. KreRt proposed the name Antechinomye for the Phascoloyale lanigera of

a Ann. & Mng.Net. Hist. viii. (1&2)p. 242.

6 Mainni. Anatr. i. pl. xl\ii, (1845).

Mon. de Mamm. i. p. 56. Toni. cit. p. 338. P. 2. S. 1866, p. 432.

Nat. Hist. Mamm. i. p. 410.

460 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON ANTECHINOMYS. [June 15,

Gould ‘,-distinguished by having “ only four toes on the hind foot, without any indication of a thumb, the tarsi completely covered with hair, and the underside of the toes and foot alone naked ” ’. A fourth geniis of Dasyuride, characterized in the same paper, is Cha- tocercus, a form which I only know from Mr. Krefft’s description and plate, but which is evidently allied to Dasyurus rather than to Phascoloynle ’.

From the facts noted above i t appears to me to be evident that Phascologale and Antechinus are much more closely allied with one another than they are to Podaabi*us and Antechinomys, which, in their turn, are nearly related to one another. If we regard the whole group as a subfamily of the Dasyurids, the apparent affiiiities of the genera might be expressed as follows :-

PHASCOLOGALINB. Dental formula i. z, r. Ei, p. ‘g3, m. ‘&=46 ; middle upper

incisors larger than the rest, molars with very pointed cusps. Thumb of hind foot small, opposable, nailless, rarely absent. Tail either tufted on the apical portion or clothed with short hairs without.

[a. -4rboreal. Hind feet short and broad, soles naked to the heel, with transversely striated pads.

1. PHASCOLOGALE. Middle upper incisors very large, con- siderably raked forward, with indications of an incipient inner cusp. Pouch absent ( K r e f t ) . Tail tyfted on apical portion, fur soft.

2. ANTECHINUS. Middle upper incisors proportionally smaller, placed more perpendicularly. Pouch present, although sometimes very shallow.

Hind feet slender, the sole more or less hairy on the metatarsus, with tuberculated callosities a t the base of the toes. Stomach subglobular.]

3. PODABRUS. Pouch present. Limbs moderate; thumb of hind foot present. 4. ANTECHINOMYS. Ponch absent. Forearm and hind foot

greatly elongate ; thumb, with its metdarsus, absent. Tail tufted a t its apical portion.

Not having suficient material for a revision of the numerous described species of PhascoZogalince, I will conclude by noting what little is recorded of the life of Antechinomys, which is a native of east-central Australia. Mr. Gould‘s type was obtained by Sir Thomas Mitchell during one of his expeditions into the interior ; hIr. Krefft gives “ t h e Lower Murray River district, near the junction of the Darling,” as a habitat ; and the specimen described above was stated by Mr. L. A. Peers ( s h o presented it to the Cambridge Museum) to have been caught near Cooper’s Creek, or the Barcoo, a river which rises in Central Queensland and flows southnards into Lake Eyre, in South Sustralia. From the structure of the limbs and the characters of the soles of the feet, it is evident

Stomach transversely elongated.]

Tail clad with short hairs throughout its length. [/3. Terrestrial.

Tail clad throughcut with short hairs.

Mamm. Austr. i. pl. xxxiii. (1863). 2 P. z. s. 1866, p. 434. Toni. a t . pp. 434, 4&5, 111. xxwi.

MEGADERMA GIGAS

1880.1 ON BATS FROM TEE GOTTINGEN MUSEUM. 461

that it is strictly terrestrial and digitigrade ; while the powerful muscles of the loins indicate that, when going at speed, it probably moves by a succession of leaps. Mr. Krefft supports these sugges- tions from actual observations. The stomach of the Cambridge specimen was unfortunately empty; but the food of the animal is no doubt similar to that of its allies, which are staled to feed exclusively on insects and ants.

2. On some new or rare Species of Chiroptei;a in the Collection By G. E. DOBSON, M.A., of the Gottingen Museum.

M.B., &c. [Received May 31, 1880.1

(Plate XLVI.)

To the kindness of Prof. Ehlers I owe the opportunity of examining the specimens of Chiroptera in the collection of the Giittingen Mu- seum, among which I find some representing new or rare species. Of these by far the must remarkable is a specimen of a new species of Megaderma from Australia, for which, as it is more than double the size of any hitherto described species of that genus, I propose the uame of

MEGADERMA GIGAS, n. sp. I n general structure externally agreeing very closely with M.

spasma, but the relative proportions of parts are sdmeahat different. Thus the posterior lobe of the tragus, though similarly shaped, is proportionally shorter, while the anterior lobe is much broader a t the base, more convex forwards, and obtuse at the tip ; the nose. leaf also, though almost identical in shape, is not much larger than that of that species.

While in M. spasma the extremity of the second finger does not extend as far as the middle of the first phalanx of the third finger, in thisspecies, as hill. from, it extends beyond it. Tail rudimentary; two short vertebm only project beyond the extremities of the ischiatic hones, and are quite coiicealed between the two layers of iuteguinent forming the base of the large interfemoral membrane.

The single specimen, an adult male,isvery peculiarly coloured, some- what like the specimen of M . Zyra in the writer's collection previously described'. As in it, the geueral colour of the fur, ears, nose-leaf, and membranes is white, the base of the fur, upon the upper snrface only, being pale slate-blue, the colour so characteristic of the genus : uii- like the other known species, the extremity of the carpl~s, the thumb, and the membrane between the thurnh and the second finqer are clothed with short hairs, in the type specimen of a white colour. '

The teeth scarcely differ in general form from those of 111. spasma ; but, as in the Ethiopian species of this genus, there is no minute

Catal. Chiropt. Brit. Miirr. p. 157.

(Plate XLVI.)