1424 



THE POUCHED MAMMALS, OR MARSUPIALS 



is clawless and opposable to the others, and is placed high up on the foot, near the 

 heel; the second and third toes, as in all the other members of the family, are 

 slender and united in a common skin. The teeth generally resemble those of the 

 rat kangaroos, but the permanent premolar in each jaw is short from front to back, 

 and is bent outward from the line of the other teeth in the manner characteristic of 

 the phalangers. 



The best description of the habits of the animal is the one given by Mr. P. 

 Ramsay, who writes that the five-toed kangaroo "inhabits the dense and damp por- 

 tions of the scrubs which fringe the rivers and clothe the sides of the coast range 

 in certain districts. The animal is by no means rare, yet, from its retiring habits, 

 and the dense nature of the parts frequented by it, it is at all times difficult to obtain. 

 Its habits are chiefly diurnal, and its actions when not disturbed by no means un- 

 graceful; it progresses in much the same way as the rat kangaroos, but procures its 

 food by turning over the debris in the scrubs in search of insects, worms, and tube- 

 rose roots, frequently eating the palm berries, which it holds in its fore-paws after 

 the manner of the phalangers, sitting up on its haunches, or sometimes digging the 

 bandicoots. Seldom more than one or two are found together, unless accompanied 

 by the young." It is added that, at least in some instances, there are two young 

 at a birth; and that the breeding season is during the rains, which last from Febru- 

 ary to May. 



EXTINCT KANGAROO-LIKE MARSUPIALS 



In addition to those of several of the existing species of kangaroos, wallabies, 

 and rat kangaroos, the caverns and superficial deposits of Australia contain numer- 

 ous remains of kangaroos, or kangaroo-like types, some of which attained gigantic 



dimensions. One 

 of these (Macropus 

 titan] was allied to 

 the great gray kan- 

 garoo, but of larger 

 size; while others, as 

 M. brehus, appear to 

 have been gigantic 

 wallabies, with skulls 

 of as much as a foot 

 in length. Other 

 species, distinguished 

 by the characteristics 

 of their permanent 



SKUI.Iv OF AN EXTINCT KANGAROO-LIKE ANIMAL (THE DIPROTODON). p remo l ar teeth Or by 



(After Sir R. Owen.) 



the bony union of 



the lower jaw, constitute extinct genera, which have been named Sthenurus, Pro- 

 coptodon, and the Palorchestes; the skull of the single representative of the latter 

 measuring upward of sixteen inches in length. 



