ORDER MARSUPIALIA: MARSUPIALS 91 



of the brushes of New South Wales that the H, Murinus is to be 

 found in any abundance. The district of Illawarra, Botany Bay, 

 the low scrubs bordering the rivers Hunter, Manning, and Clarence, 

 are the principal localities in which it may be successfully sought 

 for." 



E. Le G. Troughton (in litt., April 16, 1937) refers to the main- 

 land race as once common in the damp coastal regions of New 

 South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, but as now rare, no 

 specimens having been received at the Australian Museum since 

 1913. 



Le Souef and Burrell remark (1926, p. 233) that the Potoroo, like 

 all the members of the subfamily Potoroinae, makes for a hollow 

 log when disturbed, and thus is often easily captured. 



Longman (1930, p. 59) records the species from southern Queens- 

 land. Finlayson (1931, p. 89) did not find it in the Dawson Valley 

 in that state. 



[The Tasmanian subspecies, P. t. apicalis (Gould) , remains com- 

 mon in many localities (Lord, 1928, p. 19). Absence of the fox in 

 Tasmania may render that country the only hope for the survival 

 of any representative of the genus (E. Le G. Troughton, in litt., 

 April 16, 1937).] 



Desert Rat-kangaroo; Plain Rat-kangaroo 



CALOPRYMNUS CAMPESTEIS (Gould) 



Bettongia campestris Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1843, p. 81, 1843. ("South 



Australia.") 

 FIGS.: Gould, 1851, vol. 2, pi. 66; Finlayson, 1932, pis. 7, 8, and 1935, pis. 



facing pp. 97. 98. 



"His [Finlayson's] rediscovery of the living Caloprymnus was a 

 romance of modern zoology. The great John Gould had received 

 three specimens from somewhere in South Australia in 1843. These 

 three specimens in the British Museum remained unique. Calo- 

 prymnus seemed to be as dead as the Dodo: and then Finlayson, 

 with the assistance of Mr Reese of Appamunna, produced [in 1931], 

 as a conjurer from his hat, living specimens of the long lost Plafti 

 Rat-kangaroo." (Jones, in Finlayson, 1935a, p. 8.) 



Under fur dense and soft, very pale yellowish brown, the hairs 

 tipped with sooty brown; interspersed with the under fur (especially 

 on the back) are many long brownish white hairs, tipped with 

 blackish; sides dirty yellowish; under parts dirty white; feet and 

 tail very pale yellowish brown. Head and body, 400 mm.; tail, 

 355 mm. (Gould, 1843, p. 81.) 



"Imagine a little animal about the bulk of a rabbit, but built 

 like a kangaroo, with long spindly hind legs, tiny forelegs folded 



