108 Mr. Gunn's Notices of some Mammalia 



brown and hairy in front; the thumb of the hand feet small, 

 subcylindrical, blunt, clawless. Length : head, 5 ; body, 1 1 ; 

 tail, 4^ ; hind feet, 2-J- inches. 



These animals have been generally supposed to feed on in- 

 sects, and Dr. Grant discovered the remains of insects in the 

 stomach of the one he examined. 



The u Wallaby" kangaroo is quite different from the spe- 

 cies which usually goes by that name in this country, and 

 proves to be a species which I have not before seen, belonging 

 to the subgenus Thylogale ; therefore I shall characterise it. 



Halmaturus {Thylogale) Tasmanei, Gray. Blackish brown, 

 reddish and black varied ; upper lip, chin, throat, and beneath 

 pale reddish brown ; hind feet short, brown, grizzled ; tail 

 rather short, scaly, covered with short close-pressed hairs, with 

 longer soft crisped hairs along the upper part of its base. 

 Length, 25 ; tail, 10? ; hind feet, 5^ inches. 



This species is very different from any of the specimens 

 which I have described in my lately-published revision of the 

 family, and if the tail is not injured it will agree in the short- 

 ness of this member with the H. Thylogale brevicaudatus, the 

 Kangaroo a queue courte figured by Quoy and Gaymard in the 

 Voyage of the Astrolabe, (Mammalia, t. 19,) but which is 

 quite differently coloured. 



Fishes. 



I have this season, from my residence being so near the sea, 

 procured a few fish, but have not numbered them. They 

 were all caught in a seine at Circular Head except one spe- 

 cies, called a "Nurse" (Cestracion Philippi, Cuv.) ; I caught 

 it at Western Port. Another species of shark, called here 

 Sword Fish, (Pristis cirrhatus, Lath.) is abundant ; the pe- 

 culiarly prolonged and armed snout struck me as curious : 

 three specimens are sent. A fish called Sea Hedge-hog or 

 Porcupine (Diodon) is also very abundant. On being brought 

 to land it inflates itself into a perfect sphere, the skin as tight 

 as a foot-ball, and the spines erect and stiff in all directions 

 from the body : it continues so for some time. Some of the 

 skins now sent are well-preserved. 



"Leather Jackets" [Monacanthus, Cuv.). Of these, two are 



