NATURAL HISTORY OF THE KANGAROO. 429 



islands which belono- to its Indian division these Anstralian birds have 

 no place. 



On passing from the island of Bali to that of Lombok, we cross 

 the division between the two. "In Bali," he tells us, "we have bar- 

 bets, fruit-thrushes, and woodpeckers, while in Lombok these are 

 seen no more ; but we have abundance of cockatoos, honeysuckeVs, and 

 brush-turkeys, which are equally unknown in Bali, or any island farther 

 west." 



As to our second point, then the geographical relations of the 

 kangaroo we may say that the kangaroo is one of an order of ani- 

 mals confined to the Australian region and America^ the great hulk of 

 lohich order^ hicluding the kangaroo'^s own family, Macropodid^, is 

 strictly coyifined to the Australian region. We may further add that 

 in the Australian region ordinary beasts {JSIonodelphia) are entirely 

 absent, save some bats and a rat or two, and the wald-dog or dingo, 

 which was probably introduced there by man himself. 



There only remains, then, for us to inquire, lastly, what relations 

 with past time may be found to exist on the part of the kangaroo's 

 order or of the kangaroo itself. Now, in fact, these relations are of 

 considerable interest. I have spoken of Australia as, what in one 

 sense it certainly is, the nexoest world, and yet tJie oldest world would, 

 in truth, be an apter title for the Austi-alian region. 



In these days we hear much of " survivals," as the two buttons 

 behind our frock-coats are " survivals " of the extinct sword-belt they 

 once supported, and the " Oh, yes ! oh, yes ! oh, yes ! " of the town- 

 crier is a "survival" of the former legal and courtly predominance of 

 the French language among us. "Well, in Australia we have to-day a 

 magnificent case of zoological survival on the largest scale. There, 

 as has already been said, we find living tlie little Ifynnecobius, which 

 represents before our eyes a creature living in the flesh to-day, which 

 is like other creatures which once lived here in England, and which 

 have left their relics in the Stonesfield oolite, the deposition of which 

 is separated from our own age by an abyss of past time not to be 

 expressed by thousands of years, but only to be indicated in geological 

 language as the Mesozoic period the middle of the secondary rocks. 



But Australia presents us witli a yet more interesting case of 

 " survival." Certain fish-teeth had from time to time been found in 

 deposits of oolitic and triassic date, and the unknown creature to 

 Avhichthey once belonged had received the name of Ceratodus. Only 

 five years ago this animal, supposed to have been extinct for imtold 

 ages, was found still living in Queensland, where it goes by the name 

 of " flat-head." It is a fish of somewhat amphibious habits, as at night 

 it leaves the brackish streams it inhabits, and wanders among the reeds 

 and rushes of the adjacent flats. The anatomy of this animal has 

 been carefully described for us by Dr. Giinther. 



We have, then, in Australia what may be termed a triassic land, 



