30 THE GEOGRAPHY OF MAMMALS 



and with the nails of the toes for the most part embedded 

 in the upper surface of the expanded fleshy pads, with 

 which they are terminated, thus affording some resemblance 

 to the abnormal lemuroid mammal Tarsius spectrum of 

 the Indian Archipelago, whence its name is derived. 

 Another peculiarity of the Tarsipes is that its food appears 

 to be exclusively honey, no other substance having been 

 found in the stomachs of the specimens examined, and its 

 long and slender tongue being obviously adapted, like the 

 bill of the humming-bird and the brush-tongue of the 

 lories, for collecting such food. 



The Kangaroos (Macropodidw) must be considered as 

 par excellence the most important group of the Australian 

 mammal-fauna. They are at once the most numerous in 

 species, and in the former condition of Australia, before 

 the influx of Europeans took place, were probably likewise 

 the most prevalent form of mammalian life as regards 

 individuals. In his great work on the mammals of 

 Australia, Mr. Gould has devoted the whole of the second 

 volume to the illustration of members of this family, 

 figuring no less than forty-four species. Mr. Thomas, in 

 his catalogue of the Marsupialia (12), has recognised forty- 

 five species. 



These are divided into eleven genera, of which the best 

 known and largest are Macropus, Dendrolagus, and 

 Bettongia. The first of these genera contains the larger 

 kangaroos, in which the upper incisors are of equal length, 

 the canine teeth are deciduous when present, and all the 

 toes of the fore feet are of nearly equal length. One of the 

 finest and most brightly coloured of this larger group is 

 the Red Kangaroo (Fig. 5, p. 31), which has been introduced 

 into Europe, and breeds freely in our zoological gardens. 



