( 508 ) 



can only say that I havo not fonnd a species provided witli tlic seent-organ and 

 devoid of the sjiinc. But, considering that tlie s])ine is, at least in my ojiinion, 

 a development secondary to that of the scent-organ, one mnst expect to meet with 

 mules which possess the tibial scent-organs, Irat have not aci|iiinMl the s]iri:i(liiig- 

 rod, possessing jierhaps some other arrans'ement instead. 



NOTE ON MACBOFUS EUFTJS DESM., WITH DESCKIPTlON 

 OF A NEW SUBSPECIES. 



By Hon. WALTER EOTHSOHILD, Pn.D. 



JITACROPUS RUFUS has for a long time been the favourite Kangaroo of ai.tlmrs, 

 both from its gigantic size^ when adult, and also from its beaut v. It is 

 tlierefore more than strange that no one seems to have separated it into subspecies 

 (or geograpliical races), as has been done with the other large kangaroos. Thi-; can 

 only be attributed to the fact that the bulk of the specimens of M. riifiis reach us 

 alive, and the locality they come fi-om is in most cases not ascertainable. 



T have long had in my museum a gigantic male specimen of a form of this 

 kangaroo, which puzzled me for a long time, because it had none of the rich red 

 colour of the <S of M. rufus, but was coloured blue like a female. I have now alive 

 at Tring a large male with fully developed testes and as big as a M. rnnjor, though 

 far smaller than the mounted giant mentioned above. This animal is entirely blue, 

 or rather blue-grey, all over, except the chest and legs, which are reddish grey and 

 whitish respectively. The blue-grey is much darker than in most of the females of 

 Af. rufus I have seen. I have come to the conclusion that these blue-gi-ey animals, 

 which are of this 'colour in both sexes, come from those pai'ts of Austi'alia, both eaj-t 

 and west, to the north of New South Wales, and are a subspecies of M. riifiin, ili.>tinct 

 from the type. I therefore propose to distinguish them as a new suKspecies : — 



Macropus rufus dissimulatus subsp. nov. 



Similar to M. ni/ns riifus. but both sexes dee]) blue-grev, showing no reildish 

 colour in the male. 



Size larger than that of M. rufiis rufus. 



Total length (stuffed S , type) about 245 cm. 



Head and body about 148; head, 23^; ears, 14i ; tail, 9(il ; hindfoot, 30 cm. 



Habitat ? but shipyied from Xortli-'West Australia. 



I may here remark that to ni}' mind ]Mr. Tunney's wonilciful find of Mncrojnix 

 hernardus has rather altered my views as to the value of cranial characters, in the 

 case of larger kangaroos and wallaroos, for the determination of species as opposed 

 to subspecies ; for ISIr. Tunney found two kangaroos, M. rohnstus (dlifiaioris Tbos. 

 and M. hernardus Rothsch., occurring together in one district, which, while externally 

 diiferent enough almost to be placed in different genera, have the skulls practically 

 indistinguishable from those of typical black Macropus robusttis. This would point 

 to the fact that possibly the four rufous forms considered to be subspecies of 

 .17. rohusius I ly Mr. Thomas — viz. J/, r. cervhius, M. r. woodivardi, M. r. )s<d/elli}uis, 

 and M. r. (illl(j(il(n"t8. may prove either quite distinct species, or else sulis]iecies of a 

 red species distinct from M. rohustus. 



