﻿48 ALLEN'S naturalist's LIBRARY. 



brown and pale yellow (the brown colour gradually coalescing 

 above posteriorly to form a dark crest), beneath uniform yellow- 

 ish- or brownish-white, tip sometiiiies yellow. Length of head 

 and body about 32 inches; of tail 24 inches. 



Distribution. — South Australia. 



This Rock-Wallaby, which is more brilliantly coloured than 

 any other member of the family, may be at once recognised by 

 its ringed tail. The contrasts in its coloration are too glaring 

 to form a pleasing effect. The skull is characterised by the in- 

 flation of the muzzle and forehead, in which respect it makes 

 an approximation to that of Macropus antilopinus. Some 

 hundreds of skins are annually imported to London from Ade- 

 laide, their value ranging from one-and-fourpence each. The 

 skins of the common Rock-Wallaby are less valuable, averaging 

 from threepence to ninepence each, although they have been 

 known to reach as much as one-and-threepence. 



THE NAIL-TAILED WALLABIES. GENUS ONYCHOGALE. 



Onychogalea, Gray, in Grey's Australia, Appendix, vol. ii., p. 

 402 (1841). 



Nose hairy, with the exception, in some species, of the base 

 of the septum between the nostrils ; central hind claw long, 

 narrow, compressed, and very sharp ; tail long, tapering, short- 

 haired, not bushy, more or less crested towaids the tip, where 

 it is furnished with a horny nail or spur. 



The three species of Nail-tailed Wallabies, which are confined 

 to Australia and unknown in Tasmania, form a well-marked 

 group, distinguished not only by the peculiar horny appendage 

 to the tail, from which they derive their name, but likewise by 

 the form of their incisor teeth, which are small and light, and 

 decrease evenly in size from before backwards, the middle and 

 outer ones in the upper jaw being very slender, and sloping 



