The Victorian naturalist . t butter, honey and oatmeal mix-ture. Coat colour in all but one of thespecimens collected in this area is * Curator of Vertebrates, National Museumjf Victoria. by Joan M. Dixon* remarkably constant, the fur being adeep yellow-flecked chocolate one aberrant specimen, a female,differs markedly in coat colour fromnormal specimens (Figs. 1 and 2).Throughout the general body hair andextending down the tail are long whiteguard hairs. The overall appearance ofthe dorsal body hair is a grizzledgrey-brown. On the face there are twosymmetrical areas of white fur, ea
The Victorian naturalist . t butter, honey and oatmeal mix-ture. Coat colour in all but one of thespecimens collected in this area is * Curator of Vertebrates, National Museumjf Victoria. by Joan M. Dixon* remarkably constant, the fur being adeep yellow-flecked chocolate one aberrant specimen, a female,differs markedly in coat colour fromnormal specimens (Figs. 1 and 2).Throughout the general body hair andextending down the tail are long whiteguard hairs. The overall appearance ofthe dorsal body hair is a grizzledgrey-brown. On the face there are twosymmetrical areas of white fur, eachextending dorsally backwards from aposition approximately level with themystacial vibrissae, around and infront of the eye, then meeting theband of the opposite side just anteriorto the bases of the ears. This whitefur extends to a position just behindthe ears where it changes to thegrizzled coat colour. The ventral orundersurface of the body is pigmentation and granulation offoot pads appear to be As far as I am able to determine,this piebald variant is a unique recordfor Antechinus swainsonii. The following observations havebeen made on the habitat of the speciesat Gellibrand River. The basic rockof the area is basalt of the Older Vol-canic Series. The eucalpyts, Messmate{Eucalyptus obliqua), and MannaGum (E. viminalis), form an opencanopy. Other species of the treelayer are Tree Everlasting (Helichry-sum dendroideum), and Blackwood(Acacia melanoxylon). The shrublayer is light and there are numerousmoss-covered fallen logs, Bracken{Pteridium esculentum), and Fish-bone Fern (Blechnum nudum), whichprovide useful shelter for A. swain-sonii. Clumps of Tussock Grass (Poaaustralis), and Wiregrass (Tetrarrhenajuncea), enclose small runways whichalso provide cover for numerous Rat-tus fuscipes assimilis. Acknowledgements Thanks are due to Mr. J. Clancy,of Gellibrand River, who has allowedme to trap on his property on a num-ber of occasions. Miss H. Aston,Sen
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdec, booksubjectnaturalhistory, bookyear1884
