A hand-book to the marsupialia and monotremata / by Richard Lydekker.

  • Richard Lydekker
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A hand-book to the marsupialia and monotremata / by Richard Lydekker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    386/420 (page 290)
    THE SELVAS. GENUS CCENOLESTES. Hyracodon, Tomes, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1863, p. 50, nec Leidy, 1856. Ccenolestes, Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. xvi, p. 367 (1895); Proc. Zool. Soc., 1895, p. 870 Although a member of the genus has been known since 1863, its true zoological position was not recognised till the discovery of a second form in 1895. The generic characters, as given by Mr. Thomas, are as follows : General appearance not unlike that of a rat or small opossum. External characters very much as in the Dasyurid genus Phascologa/e. Head elongate; nose naked, both in front and on the top of the muzzle; ears short, squarish, their inner surface provided with several tragus-like projections. Fore-feet with five toes, of which the outer one, as well as the thumb, has a distinct nail, while each of the three middle digits bears a curved claw. The third digit is the longest, the second and third being sub equal and slightly shorter; the fifth reaching to the end of the first joint of the fourth, and the first to the middle of the corresponding segment of the second. Soles (palms) of fore-feet naked, with one elongated wrist-pad, three at the base of the toes, and one on the thumb. Hind-feet of normal shape, neither syndactylous nor—as in the opossums— modified into a hand. Great toe (hallux) short, clawless, and not thoroughly opposable; other toes clawed and sub-equal, the fourth being slightly the longest; soles naked, with six pads of somewhat elongated form, and not transversely striated. Tail long, slender, rat-like, and so thinly haired as to appear naked, the terminal inch of the lower surface being completely so; probably prehensile. A small rudimental pouch in the female. As regards the skull, the founder of the genus observes that in general proportions this is “ something like that of a Perameles, although thinner and more delicately built, with a