80 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



near Roebuck Bay (Broome), where K. Dahl obtained numerous 

 specimens."] 



Harvey's Rat-kangaroo 



BETTONGIA LESUEUR HARVEYI (Waterhouse) 



Perameles Harveyi Waterhouse, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1842, p. 47, 1842. 



("Port Adelaide, South Australia.") 

 FIG.: Jones, 1924, p. 207, fig. 153. 



"In certain districts it is still by no means rare, but its decrease 

 in numbers has been so rapid during the past twenty years that 

 probably the remnant still existing must not be regarded as a very 

 long lived one" (Jones, 1924, p. 207) . 



Fur dense and soft; general color above brown, penciled with 

 white; sides of head and body tinged with yellowish; under parts 

 impure white; tail rich brown above, dirty white below, the hairs 

 becoming longer and white toward the tip (Waterhouse, 1842, p. 47) . 

 The animal is shaped like a little stoutly built kangaroo and is about 

 the size of a rabbit, with a short blunt head and little round ears. 

 Head and body, 370 mm.; tail, 300 mm. (Jones, 1924, pp. 207, 210.) 



The exact distribution of this subspecies does not seem to have 

 been determined. It originally ranged widely through South Aus- 

 tralia, having been recorded from Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Gawler 

 Plains, Lake Phillipson, the vicinity of McDoualFs Peak, and the 

 northwest (Thomas, 1888, p. 113; Jones, 1924, pp. 210-211). It may 

 be this form that extends also into Central Australia, but the area 

 where it approaches or intergrades with B. L graii apparently re- 

 mains to be ascertained. 



Gould (1863, vol. 2, p. 74) recorded it as "abundant in the plains 

 around Adelaide." 



Spencer records "Bettongia lesueuri" from Central Australia, but 

 he lists no specimens and gives it the native name of "Mal-la," 

 whereas Finlayson (1935, p. 62) applies the native name "maala" 

 to Lagorchestes hirsutus of the same general region. 



Spencer's account (1896, p. 16) is as follows: 



"This is the common sand-hill rat-kangaroo of Central Australia, 

 and is perhaps . . . the most common form of marsupial amongst 

 the sandy plains and sand-hills .... 



"We found it during the whole course of the [Horn] expedition, 

 and there can be no doubt but that it is distributed right across 

 South, Central and West Australia." 



As with so many other Australian species, we owe the chief 

 account of this animal's status and life history to Jones (1924, pp. 

 210-211) : 



This Rat Kangaroo, which is probably the only living representative of 

 the Sub-family left in South Australia, is still existing in some numbers in 



