INTRODUCTION. 21 



western provinces of the country have been more diligently ex- 

 })lore(I. 



The third and concluding volume is devoted to the Rodents, 

 Seals, and Bats, and ends with the Canis Dingn. These are tlic 

 only riacental animals inhabiting the land of Australia, and, 

 contrary to what was formerly supposed, the Rodents form no 

 incoDspicuous feature among the quadrupeds of that country. 

 They are very numerous in species, and almost nniltitudinous in 

 individuals. Every traveller who has visited the interior can 

 testify to this fact. If exploration has been his object, the 

 numerous runs and tracks of these little animals must have 

 been frequently presented to his notice, — every grassy bed 

 being tenanted by its own species of Mus, while all the 

 sand-hills are run over by the same or other species, inter- 

 spersed with the Jerboa-like Hapalotides. The sluggish river- 

 reaches and water-holes of nearly every part, from Tasmania 

 through all the southern portions of the continent, have their 

 muddy banks traversed by the Hijdromys, or Beaver-Rats, as 

 they have been very appropriately called. Even New Zealand, a 

 country which it was formerly supposed never had a more highly 

 organized indigenous creature than a bird, has its Bats; it will 

 not be surprising, therefore, that the sister» country of Australia 

 should be tenanted by numerous species of these Nocturnes ; not 

 only are they individually very plentiful, but many distinct forms 

 or genera are there found. The brushes which abound in fruit- 

 bearing fig-trees are frequented by Vampires or Pteropi — a form 

 which appears to be mainly confined to the south-eastern and 

 northern portions of the country, for I have not yet seen any 

 examples from Tasmania, or Southern or Western Australia. 

 The trees in this strange country which either bear fruit or 

 berries are very few. Even the fruit of the stately parasitic Fig 

 is a mere apology for that which we are accustomed to see, and 

 hence but few species of these great frugivorous Bats occur in 

 the fauna of Australia. At the same time, the paucity of species 

 is amply compensated by the number of individuals; these, how- 



