This may be the same as P. minima of Geoffroy, but the tail is longer for its size.

No. 19. Phascogale rufogaster, Gray.-Head grey; back and sides brown, with longer black hairs; sides of the belly and feet bright rufous; lips and chin whitish; under fur lead colour; tail end blackish-brown, slightly pencilled. Body and head, 4; tail, 2 inches. Inhab. South Australia, Mr. Gould.

No. 22. Phascogale leucogaster, Gray.-Head and shoulders grey, behind rather browner, with scattered longer black-tipped hairs; chin and beneath pure white; feet brownish grey. Body and head, 4; tail, 24 inches.

Inhab. Western Australia, banks of the Canning river, April 1839, Mr. Gould.

More specimens and further observations may prove these to be only local varieties of one species; but the specimens we have from the same localities are similar in character, which is not the case with the different specimens of Hepoona.

No. 26. Perameles fasciata, Gray.-Grey brown, rump with three black bands; tail white, with a black streak along the upper side. Inhab. Liverpool Plains and South Australia; smaller than P. Gunnii.

No. 28. Perameles fusciventer, Gray.--Brown, yellow grizelled; tail above blackish, beneath grey; head short, conical; belly grey brown, with broad rufous channelled hairs. This species is like P. obesula in colour, but the head is shorter, and the belly of that species is white, with white bristles.

No. 37. Dromicia nana.-The dentition and the peculiar form and character of the tail of this species, at once point out that it should constitute a distinct genus from the other Phalangers, from which it differs in many of its habits.

No. 38. Hepoona Cookii.-Specimens from the same locality differ from one another in the extent of the white on the tail, in the darkness of the colour of the fur, and

in the limbs and sides of the body being of the colour of the back, or more or less rufous. There are either five or six species, or only one.

No. 39. I have retained the name of Petaurista for the flying Phalangers with hairy ears, as Dr. Shaw's Didelphis Petaurus is evidently the same as P. flaviventer, and has naked ears, like the other species, and his name Petaurus should be used rather than Mr. Waterhouse's Belideus for this genus.

No. 40. Petaurista leucogaster, may only be a variety of P. Taguanoides.

No. 42. Petaurus macrourus.-This species is only known from the figures of Dr. Shaw. They have a specimen of a young Petaurista Taguanoides, under this name, in the Paris Museum.

No. 43. Petaurus breviceps. This is probably the species called P. Peronii in Mr. G. Bennett's catalogue of the Australian Museum. It may also be M. Desmarest's ; if this is so, the latter name will have to be adopted, and the one first used erased from the list.

No. 47. The Macropi with hairy muffles, are found in grassy places, while the Halmaturi are confined to the scrubs; and the Petrogalæ, or Rock Kangaroos, to the rocky districts; the latter, like Bettongia, sit with their tail between the legs. Mr. Gould informs me the animals of the latter genus also use their tails for the purpose of carrying the grass to their nests. The tree Kangaroos of New Guinea have a tail somewhat like a squirrel. These differences of habit shew the propriety of dividing this group of animals into genera.

No. 48. Macropus laniger. This name must be rejected, as the animal is not wool-bearing. The skin in the Paris Museum is made up with the skin of a sheep. M. Desmarest's description of the female M. rufogriseus in the

New Dictionary, very nearly agrees with this species, but Mr. Gould is inclined to consider the specimen he was shewn for that species in the Paris Museum was M. major.

No. 57. Halmaturus elegans.--The description of Mr. Lambert is so short, that it has hitherto been considered impossible to determine it with accuracy; but on comparing the coloured plate which is bound up with Sir Joseph Banks's copy of the volume of the Transactions containing the paper, now in the Museum Library, with the specimens of kangaroos in the Museum collection, I have very little doubt of its being intended for one which Mr. Gould considers as identical with M. ruficollis of M. Desmarest. M. Desmarest's animal is said to come from King's Island, in Bass's Straits, while Mr. Gould's animal, like the one Mr. Lambert described, is from New South Wales. Mr. Gunn remarks, that H. Billardieri is common in the locality indicated by M. Desmarest.

No. 67. Petrogale brachyotis. —This species was discovered by Capt. G. Grey, in his expedition, and the specimens he collected he gave to Mr. Gould, who described them, and is now about to figure them in his forthcoming monograph of the species of kangaroos: a work which will be as far superior to any other published on Mammalia in beauty of design and accuracy in the execution of the plates as his work on Birds has been to any that has hitherto appeared either in England or on the Continent. The speci mens are now in the collection of the British Museum.

No. 84. Mus lutreola.-Back black and yellowish grizelled, with longer black hairs; sides yellowish grey, beneath grey lead colour, under fur lead colour; ears with scattered short adpressed hairs; whiskers black; front teeth yellow; tail with short black adpressed bristles; length of body and head 7, tail 4, hind-feet 1 1-4 inches. The water-rat of the South Australian Colonist. Inhab.

South Australia, River Torrens, Bass's Straits, New South Wales; Musquito Islands and Macdonald's River, Van Diemen's Land, Tasman's Peninsula. J. Gould, Esq.

No. 85. Mus Greyii, Gray.-Fur brown, with close long slender pale-tipped black hairs; sides yellowish-brown ; throat and beneath yellowish; feet whiteish; ears nearly naked, with close-pressed short greyish hairs; tail with close-pressed brown hairs. Variety; belly rather more greyish-white. Inhab. South Australia, June. Length, body and head 6, tail 43, hind-feet 1 1-12 of an inch.

No. 86. Mus Adelaidensis.-Fur soft, brown, with scattered rather longer black tipped hairs, beneath pale grey brown; the under fur lead coloured; whiskers black; ears moderate, covered with short close-pressed hairs; tail elongate, brown; cutting teeth pale yellow, compressed; body and head 3, tail 3 inches, hind-feet 8-12. Inhab. South Australia. J. Gould, Esq.

In examining the Geographical distribution of the Genera, as exhibited in the foregoing table, as far as our present knowledge of these animals extends, we may state that the genera Charopus, Acrobates, Petaurista, Lugorchestes, Phascolarctos, Hapalotis, and Pseudomys, are peculiar to New South Wales. The genus Petaurus, is also found in New South Wales, but not in the Island of Van Diemen's Land and the rest of the continent, but one of the species living there is also said to be an inhabitant of Norfolk Island, where it may probably have been introduced. The species of the genera Petrogale, and Bettongia,

are

common to New South Wales, South Australia, and the North-west Coast; but they are not found in Van Diemen's Land, and the genus Myrmecobius appears to be peculiar to Western Australia, for it is not by any means certain, that the red shrew-mouse, discovered in Australia Felix, by Sir T. Mitchell, belongs to this genus.

The Genera Thylacinus, Diabolus, and Dromicia, are peculiar to Van Diemen's Land.

The species of the genera Dasyurus and Perameles are very abundant in Van Diemen's Land, but they have also representatives which are found in New Holland.

The species of the genera Nyctophilus, Phalangista, Hepoona, Phascogale, Macropus, Halmaturus, Hypsiprymnus, and Hydromys, appear to be common to all parts of the continent, and also to Van Diemen's Land.

The genera Echidna and Ornithorhynchus are found in New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, but I have not heard of their having been discovered in the Western or Southern parts of the continent of Australia.

There are some of the genera of the non-Marsupial animals, as Rhinolophus and Pteropus, which are common to various parts of Australia and the different parts of the Old World, and others, as Canis, Mus, Scotophilus, and Molossus, which are common to it and to both Hemispheres. Two Marsupial genera, Halmaturus and Perameles, have species found in New Guinea, but most probably, when they have been more carefully examined, they will be found to form a peculiar genus, allied to the Australian animals, as is the case with the tree kangaroos (Dendrolegus) and the Phalangers (Cuscus) of that country. We have a specimen of the Halmaturus in the British Museum, from the Leyden collection, but like many of the specimens in that collection, where the zoological specimens are made subservient to the anatomical predilections of the conservator, it has no skull, and false claws, which renders it impossible for me to define its characters. The tail has rings of scales under the hair, but this is also the case with most Halmaturi.

Before proceeding to the consideration of the distribution of the species, over the different districts of Australasia, it may be remarked that this is a subject surrounded with