ORDER MARSUPIALIA: MARSUPIALS 



87 



The annals of this species are brief and tragic. It was discovered 

 in Western Australia in 1840 by John Gilbert and is represented by 

 his two specimens in the British Museum, but it has never since 

 been encountered in the flesh by a zoologist and is undoubtedly 

 extinct. 



General color above mingled gray, brown, and black; central and 

 lower part of back washed with reddish brown; a blackish median 

 line from nose to forehead; under parts grayish white; tail black, 

 thinly clothed with short hairs. Total length, 558 mm. ; tail, 158 mm. 

 (Gould, 1841, pt. 1, text to pi. 15.) 



FIG. 11. Gilbert's Rat-kangaroo (Potorous gilbertii) 



Gould (1863, vol. 2, p. 79) quotes Gilbert's field notes as follows: 



This little animal may be said to be the constant companion of Halmaturus 

 brachyurus, as they are always found together amidst the dense thickets and 

 rank vegetation bordering swamps and running streams. The natives capture 

 it by breaking down a long, narrow passage in the thicket, in which a number 

 of them remain stationed, while others, particularly old men and women, 

 walk through the thicket, and by beating the bushes and making a yelling 

 noise, drive the affrighted animals before them into the cleared space, where 

 they are immediately speared by those on the watch: in this way a tribe of 

 natives will often kill an immense number of both species in a few hours. I 

 have not heard of the Hypsiprymnus Gilberti being found in any other part 

 of the colony than King George's Sound. 



Shortridge (1910, pp. 824-826, map) gives the following account: 



"It is quite possible that they [P. gilbertii and P. platyops] are 



now entirely extinct, although I picked up six old skulls of Potorous 



