ANTECHINUS SWAINSONI.
Swainson's Antechinus.
Phascogale Swainsonii, Waterh. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. iv. p. 300.
—— (Antechinus) Swainsonii, Waterh. Nat. Hist, of Mamm., vol. i. p. 411.—Gunn, Proc. of Roy. Soc. of Van Diemen's Land, vol. ii. p. 82.—Zool. of Erebus and Terror, Beasts, pl. 25. fig. 1.
Of the animals comprising the restricted genus Antechinus, the present is the largest and the most darkly coloured species yet discovered. Van Diemen's Land, if not its sole habitat, is the country in which it is usually found, and I believe I am right in stating that up to the present time it has not been obtained elsewhere.
Mr. Waterhouse, after remarking that this species is of a much darker colour than any of the other Antechini, and is almost destitute of any grey hue, says, "The fur is long and moderately soft, and is of a deep grey colour next the skin; on the back the hairs are most of them annulated with rusty yellow or brownish rust-colour, the deeper tint being observable on the hinder parts. The hairs of the hinder parts of the body are grey, but tipped with yellowish. The tail is clothed throughout with small adpressed hairs of a dusky-brown colour, and a trifle paler on the under than on the upper surface. The feet are uniform dusky brown; the fleshy pads on their under surface are transversely striated, and the remaining naked portion of each foot is apparently smooth. The muzzle is narrower and more elongated than usual. The specimen from which the original description was taken measured from the tip of the nose to the root of the tail 5 inches and 2 lines in length, and its tail was 3 inches and 5 lines long." But that the animal attains a larger size is certain, there being an example in the British Museum which is 7 inches in length, and others of an equal size in the fine collection bequeathed to the town of Liverpool by the late munificent Earl of Derby.
The figures are of the size of life.
