MAMMALS OF AUSTRALIA 183 



where once the forest murmured and little creeks went sparkling 

 between mossy banks, on their way to the rivers. Yes, there is 

 something of romance clinging about the Kangaroo. 



Captain James Cook, the great navigator, was the first to bring 

 the Kangaroo under the notice of European naturalists. It was in 

 the Summer of 1770, when he was refitting his staunch little vessel, 

 the Endeavour, at the mouth of the river in New South Wales 

 which bears that name. The date was June 22. A party who had 

 been sent ashore to shoot Pigeons for sick members of the crew 

 returned to the Endeavour with a report that aroused great excite- 

 ment. The men said that they had seen "an animal as large as a 

 greyhound, of a slender make, of a mouse colour, and extremely 

 swift." Two days later, as Lieutenant Cook was walking ashore at a 

 little distance from the ship, he also saw the strange animal. Mr. 

 Joseph Banks, the great naturalist, who was a member of the 

 expedition, caught a glimpse of the swift, mouse-coloured animal 

 and expressed the opinion that its species was unknown. On July 

 14 "Mr. Gore had the good fortune to kill one of the animals before 

 mentioned, and which had been the subject of much speculation. It 

 is called by the natives Kanguroo." And that was how the Kan- 

 garoo was discovered. The species referred to in Cook's Voyages 

 is the Great Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). The Genus 

 Macropus includes all the true Kangaroos and Wallabies. They 

 form the first family of the first sub-order of the Marsupials, known 

 to men of science as Diprotodontia. The Diprotodonts (two front 

 teeth) include all the herbivorous members of the order, and their 

 distribution is confined to Australia and the adjacent islands. The 

 largest of the Marsupials are comprised in this sub-family. Some of 

 their characteristics are powerful development of the hind-limbs in 

 comparison with the fore-limbs, and the extremely large size of the 

 tail. They possess small heads, and the ears are long and upright. 

 Some of the dental characteristics have been already mentioned. 

 The incisor teeth never exceed three pairs below and above. The 

 innermost pair of incisors are very interesting, they are of large size 

 and are furnished with sharp inner edges which are used by the 

 animals almost after the manner of a pair of scissors. The molar 

 teeth are characterized by broad square crowns, with either trans- 

 verse ridges or blunted tubercles. There are about two score cf 

 living species of Kangaroos and Wallabies. They vary greatly in 

 size. The species known to colonists as the "Boomer" and the 



