110 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



The present group of wallabies has long been in a state of great 

 taxonomic confusion, and part of the material necessary for elucida- 

 tion is evidently no longer obtainable. Under these circumstances 

 the group will be treated here as a specific unit, although attention 

 may be called to the three subspecies recognized by Iredale and 

 Troughton (1934, pp. 46-47) : 



Thylogale eugenii eugenii (Desmarest). Type locality as stated 

 above. 



Thylogale eugenii derbiana (J. E. Gray) . Type locality not stated 

 in the original description but said by Waterhouse (1846, vol. 1, 

 p. 155) to be "Swan River," Western Australia. Synonym: Macropus 

 gracilis Gould. 



Thylogale eugenii binoe (Gould). Type locality: 'Tort Essing- 

 ton," Northern Australia. This is considered an error by Iredale and 

 Troughton (1934, p. 47), who substitute "Wallaby Island, Hout- 

 man's Abrolhos, West Australia" (cf, J. E. Gray, List of Specimens 

 Mammalia Brit. Mus., p. 91, 1843) ; however, Thomas (1888, p. 44) 

 lists the type from "Port Essington, N. T. (Sir J. Richardson) 1 ' 

 and places binoe in the synonymy of Macropus agilis (Gould), as 

 Gould himself had already done (1863, vol. 2, p. 31). Synonyms: 

 Halmaturus houtmanni Gould; H. dama Gould; H. emiliae Water- 

 house. 



The former range of the species as a whole included South Aus- 

 tralia, the coastal areas of southern and southwestern Western 

 Australia, and various islands along the coast, including Kangaroo 

 Island and Nuyt's Archipelago, South Australia, and the Recherche 

 Archipelago, Garden Island, and Houtman's Abrolhos, Western Aus- 

 tralia. It has become extinct on the South Australian mainland 

 and on St. Peter's Island (the type locality) ; in 1910 it was reported 

 as rapidly disappearing before settlement in Western Australia; 

 but apparently it remains plentiful in most of its insular habitats. 



The following is adapted from Desmarest's description of what 

 may be considered the paratype, which presumably came from St. 

 Peter's Island: Fur soft; general color grayish brown, mixed with 

 rufous near the shoulders and on the nape, crown, and forelegs; 

 under parts whitish, distinctly separated from the dark color of the 

 upper parts; tail grayish brown above, white below, with a slight 

 reddish tint. Head and body about 21 (French) inches [567 mm.] ; 

 tail, a little more than 1 (French) foot [324 mm.]. 



Gould states (1841, text to pi. 11) that he had never heard of 

 "Halmaturus derbianus" being found on the mainland of South 

 Australia. But he writes (1863, vol. 2, p. 36) of its abundance on 

 Kangaroo Island. "The almost impenetrable scrub of dwarf Euca- 

 lypti, which covers nearly the whole of Kangaroo Island, will always 

 afford it a secure asylum, from which in all probability it will never 



