BANDICOOT (Perameles, GeoiT. St. Hilaire), a genus of Marsupial Mammals, which appears to occupy, in Australia, the situation which the Shrews, Tenrecs, and other Inseetirora fill in the Old World.
The species of Perameles called Bandicoots by the colonists (a name which properly belongs to the Great Rat of India, Mus giganteus, but which, from a vague resemblance in size and appearance, the early colonists of Sydney applied to the animals at present under con sideration), though they agree in the most prominent characters of their dentition with some of the Marsupiata, and in the form of their extremities and the number of their toes with others, yet differ essentially from all in their habits and economy. [$LtBSurrATA.] In the number, form, and arrangement of their canine and molar teeth they agree in all respects with the Opossums of America and the Dasyures of Australia ; that is to say, that they have 2 canines and 14 molars in each jaw ; but they differ widely in the number of their incisors, and in this respect offer a unique combination which is found in no other known genus of mammals. Of the incisor teeth there are 10 in the upper jaw, and only 6 in the lower • and the external on each side, particularly in the upper jaw, is and stands apart both from the canine and from the other incisors ; it is likewise much larger than the intermediate incisors, and its form is that of an ordinary canine tooth, of which indeed it appears to exercise all the functions.
The hind legs are considerably longer than the fore, and the number and form of the toes are in all respects similar to those of the kangaroos. It was this similarity that induced M. Geoffioy St. Hilaire to suppose that the pace of the Bandicoots also resembled that of the kangaroos. This, however, is far from being the case. The dispro portion between their anterior and posterior extremities is by no means so great as to compel the Bandicoots to hop upon the hind legs only, like the kangaroos, though it is certainly sufficiently so to prevent them from walking like ordinary quadrupeds. Their actual
pace resembles that of the hare, and consists of a succession of leaps from the hind to the fore feet, but it is not very rapid, nor can they maintain it for any great length of time. On the fore feet there are five toes, of which the three middle are long and stout, but the lateral ones are so short that they do not touch the ground, and are conse quently useless iu walking, though they may be of great service in burrowing. The hind feet have but four toes each, and of these the third is the largest of all, whilst the two internal are united under the same skin, and appear externally like a single toe armed with two claws. • This is precisely the arrangement and form which we find in the kangaroos; but the feet of the Bandicoots differ, in being provided with broad powerful claws, which enable them to burrow with astonishing facility, and to scratch up the ground in search of roots. They likewise differ from the kangaroos in having a small fleshy tubercle, in lieu of a thumb, upon the hind feet, and in having the last or ungual phalange of all the toes divided in front by a small incision, as in the pangolins and ant-eaters, a structure which gives a much, firmer attachment to the claw, and vastly increases their power of burrowing. In other respects the Bandicoots are chiefly characterised by their long attenuated muzzles, short upright ears, lengthened bodies, and moderate rat-like tails, which are not prehensile, as is the case with many genera of this order, nor have these animals the power of ascending trees. With regard to the period of gestation, the number of young, and the mode of their introduction into the abdominal pouch, it is only known that they resemble the other marsupials in the premature production of their young, and in nourishing them for some time afterwards in the abdominal pouch of the mother, and that this pouch contains the mammary organs for that purpose.