86 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



fox, as living their daylight hours in a nest on the ground they 

 become an easy prey for this animal." 



In Victoria, according to C. W. Brazenor (in Hit., March 3, 1937) , 

 the Rufous Rat-kangaroo was "once fairly common. Now rare but 

 probably survives in more inaccessible parts of eastern Victoria. 

 Last record 1905." It is completely protected by law in that state. 



Finlayson writes (1931, pp. 85-86) of its status in Queensland: 



This interesting animal, though highly characteristic of coastal Queensland, 

 has received very little mention in recent years, and there has been no pub- 

 lished data from which one might estimate its position in the fauna of that 

 State. 



Strangely enough it was not taken by Lumholtz, though it must have oc- 

 curred in many of the districts in which he worked .... It has been twice 

 recorded from North Queensland by O. Thomas . . . , and by Lonnberg and 

 Mjoberg from Carrington . . . , but without comment, and as each record was 

 based on a single individual, it might be inferred to be comparatively rare. 



In the Dawson and Fitzroy Valleys, however, this is far from being the 

 case, and it is widely spread over the whole area from sea level to the tops 

 of the plateaus. It occurs in almost all types of country, both open and 

 forested .... The banks of creeks and river flats are favourite resorts, and 

 there are few such places which by systematic beating cannot be made to 

 yield up a few. . . . 



Like most of the coastal species it has little resistance to drought, and will 

 go to great lengths in excavating holes in dry creek beds to get down to water 

 level. In January, 1929, the Cariboe Creek ceased to run at Thangool, and 

 for miles the sandy bed thus exposed was criss-crossed with the pads of 

 Aepyprymnus coming down at night to drink at pot holes of their own making. 



In the cattle country it is stated by squatters to have diminished considerably 

 in recent years, and by them it is regarded with indifference. But round 

 many of the newly-formed cotton settlements in The Callide Valley it is 

 plentiful, and at Thangool and Biloela and other points on The Cariboe has 

 become an unmitigated nuisance and is cordially detested by the struggling 

 settlers. Its raids on the crops are determined and resourceful, and as no 

 ordinary fence will bar them for long, poisoning is the only effective check. 

 Scores of thousands have been killed in this way, and skeletons (few and 

 far between in Museums) are littered thickly round the cotton plots. 



On the outlook for the preservation of the Rufous Rat-kangaroo, 

 E. Le G. Troughton writes (in litt., April 16, 1937) : "There has 

 been a marked shrinkage of the once abundant species in coastal 

 N. S. Wales and Queensland, suggesting that this small, specialized, 

 and rather open country species is unlikely to survive, except pos- 

 sibly in northern coastal Queensland where it may favour less open 

 country, and the fox may not become established." 



Gilbert's Rat-kangaroo 



POTOROUS GILBERTII (Gould) 



Hypsiprymnus Gilbertii Gould, Mon. Macropodidae, pt. 1, text to pi. 15, 1841. 



("King George's Sound," Western Australia.) 

 FIGS.: Gould, 1841, pi. 15; Gould, 1854, vol. 2, pi. 69. 



