92 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



tight on its chest, and a tail half as long again as the body but not 

 much thicker than a lead pencil, and you have it in the rough. But 

 its head, short and blunt and wide, is very different from that of 

 any kangaroo or wallaby, and its coat is uniformly coloured a clear 

 pale yellowish ochre exactly like the great clay-pans and flood 

 plains." (Finlayson, 1935a, p. 102.) Head and body, 254-282 mm. ; 

 tail, 307-377 mm. (Finlayson, 1932, p. 165). 



The exact locality from which Gould's original specimens came 

 (through Sir George Grey) is not now ascertainable; he merely 

 stated (1863, vol. 2, p. 76) that "the stony and sandy plains of the 

 interior of South Australia partially clothed with scrub are its 

 native habitat." Only the recent range of the animal can be given 

 with any precision. "Its proved distribution may be extended over 

 a large area of the eastern portion of the Lake Eyre Basin, speci- 

 mens and reliable records from observers personally known to the 

 author having been obtained from as far south as Lake Harry and 

 as far north as Coorabulka in South-West Queensland. The north 

 and south limits of its range, as at present ascertained, are, there- 

 fore, approximately, lats. 23 40' and 29 21' south. No records 

 have so far been obtained west of Lake Eyre and the Kallakoopah, 

 and the furthest easterly occurrence is at Innamincka, on the Barcoo, 

 in long. 140 49' east." (Finlayson, 1932, p. 148; map, p. 149.) 



The recent history of the species may be summarized in Finlay- 

 son's own words (1932, pp. 150-165) : 



In ordinary years the Lake Eyre Basin is a most unattractive area from 

 the point of view of the mammal collector, and the disappearance of 

 Caloprymnus from scientific ken must be attributed rather to lack of systematic 

 collecting than to any sudden change in the status of the animal in the 

 fauna, following Grey's discovery. All the evidence obtained by questioning 

 blacks goes to show that in all probability it has had an uninterrupted tenure 

 of the country, but it is equally certain that in normal times its numbers 

 are small, since men like Mr. Reese, whose opportunities for observation are 

 practically continuous throughout the year, affirm that in thirty-five years 

 they have seen no more than twenty specimens. . . . 



At the time of my passage through the area, conditions as they bear upon 

 animal life were very favourable and quite supernormal as compared with 

 average conditions over a series of years. A period of seven years of drought 

 had been broken, and vegetation had been restored on a comparatively 

 lavish scale. All species of mammals were undergoing a quick increase in 

 numbers, and rodents especially had assumed plague proportions. Most of the 

 specimens of Caloprymnus were obtained, and the bulk of the observations 

 upon it were made, on two flats lying east and west of Cooncherie Sandhill. . . . 



The numbers occurring in this particular locality were very considerable. 

 In the course of a week's riding on the two flats over an area of perhaps 20 

 square miles, 17 Oolacuntas were sighted. ... All the evidence obtained 

 so far goes to show that its distribution at present is highly discontinuous 

 but that it follows in a general way the fringes of the gibber plains .... 



The accounts of its feeding habits given by the blacks, and several other 



