82 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Brush-tailed Rat-kangaroo 



BETTONGIA PENICILLATA PENICILLATA J. E. Gray 



Bettongia penicillata J. E. Gray, Mag. Nat. Hist. (Charlesworth), vol. 1, p. 584, 

 1837. (No type locality was stated in the original description, but Thomas 

 (1888, p. Ill) lists the type specimen from "New South Wales.") 



FIGS.: Gould, 1841, pi. 14; Waterhouse, 1846, vol. 1, pi. 7, fig. 1; Gould, 

 1852, vol. 2, pi. 61; Lydekker, 1894, pi. 9 (ssp.?). 



This eastern Australian subspecies is either very rare or extinct. 

 (The two other recognized subspecies likewise come within the scope 

 of the present report.) 



The general color is ashy brown, penciled with white and brownish 

 black ; cheeks and throat faintly tinged with yellowish ; under parts 

 dirty white; hands and feet pale brown; tail brown above, pale 

 brown below, the apical third with a black dorsal crest. Head and 

 body, 343 mm.; tail, 285 mm. (Waterhouse, 1846, vol. 1, p. 213.) 



The former range extended from the Dawson Valley, Queensland, 

 to Victoria, but apparently only on the inner side of the coastal 

 ranges. 



Most of the information on this animal comes from Gould (1863, 

 vol. 2, p. 71), who had opportunities of studying it while it was 

 still abundant. "The eastern parts of Australia, particularly the 

 districts on the interior side of the ranges of New South Wales, 

 constitute the true habitat of the species .... I observed it to be 

 very abundant on the Liverpool Plains, and on the banks of the 

 river Namoi, from its source to its junction with the Gwydyr; but 

 between the ranges and the coast I did not meet with it." He adds 

 that the natives rarely pass without detecting its grassy nest on the 

 ground, and almost invariably kill the sleeping inmates by dashing 

 their tomahawks or heavy clubs at it. 



It is "apparently not now found in Eastern Australia" (A. S. Le 

 Souef, in Hit., February 15, 1937) . "It is now very rare or extinct 

 in New South Wales and Victoria" (E. Le G. Troughton, in Hit., 

 April 16, 1937). 



C. W. Brazenor (in litt., March 3, 1937) considers the animal 

 extinct in Victoria, where the last record dates from 1857. There 

 are few Victorian examples in the National Museum of Melbourne. 



According to Finlayson (1931, p. 89), "Bettongia penicillata was 

 taken by Lumholtz on Coomooboolaroo [in the Dawson Valley, 

 Queensland], but has now apparently quite disappeared from there, 

 and is not known elsewhere in the valley." 



While no specific information concerning the causes of the dis- 

 appearance of this rat-kangaroo seems to have been offered, prob- 

 ably the fox is largely responsible. 



