130 THE FASCIATED KANGAROO. 



which prevented the dog from running to advantage. All that 

 could then be distinctly observed was, that the animal in some 

 degree resembled the Jerboa in its manner of springing for- 

 ward on the hind legs, instead of running in the manner of 

 other quadrupeds. 



The sight of a creature so extraordinary could not fail to 

 excite, in the mind of a philosophic observer, the most ardent 

 wishes for a complete examination. These were at length 

 gratified ; Mr. Gore, one of the associates in the expedition of 

 Capt. Cook, having been so fortunate as to shoot one in the 

 course of a few days, and it seems to have been from this speci- 

 men that the figure given in Hawksworth's Voyage was drawn. 



The term Kangaroo is borrowed from the natives of Aus- 

 tralia; and the last syllable of this word, it may be observed, 

 seems to be a generic appellative signifying e quadruped ' or 

 6 beast,' for we find it again in Poto-roo, by which they desig- 

 nated the Kangaroo Rat; Wha-tapoa-roo, the native name for 

 the Lemurine Opossum; and in Hepoona-roo, the native name 

 of the Petaurus or Flying Opossum. 



The labours and researches of modern naturalists have been 

 repaid by the discovery of several other species of kanga- 

 roo, in addition to the large one first seen and described. One 

 of the most elegant of the species is the banded kangaroo 

 discovered by the French naturalists Peron and Le Sueur, 

 from whose figure we have copied the illustration prefixed to 

 this article. 



All these animals are remarkable for the extreme dispro- 

 portion subsisting between their fore and hind extremities. 

 One might almost say that the whole of the upper part of the 

 body had been in some measure sacrificed to the lower : the 

 hinder limbs possess an astonishing power, from their bulk 

 and length; while the tail, from its thickness and the strength 

 of its muscles, seems, as it were, to form a fifth extremity. 

 The fore legs on the contrary are very slim and small; the 

 neck tapers to the head, which is itself small and tapering. 

 This conformation permits them to assume and maintain the 

 erect position, during which the tail forms with the hind legs 

 a firm tripod, or basis of support, the disarrangement of whose 

 equilibrium is little risked by the lightness of the superin- 

 cumbent parts ; and the kangaroo in this position derives ad- 

 ditional support and stability from the length of its feet, — a 

 peculiarity from which the generic term Macropus is derived. 

 The fore feet are armed with five strong claws, which are of a 

 three-sided figure, with a flat surface below, and slightly 

 arched; the toes are very free and moveable, and thus adapted 

 in some degree for grasping. The hind feet have only four 

 toes, the two innermost of which are rudimentary^ and enve- 



