ORDER MARSUPIALIA: MARSUPIALS 113 



diminution of its numbers. . . . Being one of the best-flavoured of the small 

 Kangaroos, it is very generally eaten in Van Diemen's Land. 



The Tasmanian Wallaby may be regarded as strictly gregarious, hundreds 

 generally inhabiting the same localities .... It is very easily taken with snares, 

 formed of a noose placed in the run; and thousands are captured in this way, 

 solely for their skins : the sportsman also may readily procure it by stationing 

 himself in some open glade of limited extent, accompanied by two or three 

 small yelping dogs, before which it keeps hopping round and round, and thus 

 affords him an opportunity of shooting it as it passes. 



B52L 



Gunn states (1838, p. 106) that "they are excellent eating, but 

 the smallness of the skins renders them less valuable for tanning." 



The recent status of the Rufous-bellied Wallaby in Tasmania is 

 given by Lord (1928, p. 19) : "It is evenly distributed and is plenti- 

 ful in certain districts remote from settlement; but close to the 

 settled areas its history is the same as the larger forms." He adds 

 (p. 23) that in recent years it has increased considerably in the 

 Tasmanian National Park. He also quotes (p. 24) the official 

 Tasmanian returns from the hunting of this species as follows: 



1923 201,365 



1924 86,393 



1925 121,245 



1926 94,531 



Jones (1924, pp. 242-243) discusses its former occurrence in South 

 Australia : 



In the collection of the British Museum there is a skull of this animal, 

 formerly the property of Sir Richard Owen, which came from Mount Gambier. 

 There are also two skeletons said to have been procured in South-east South 

 Australia. . . . 



This is the common small wallaby of Tasmania, it is present also in some 

 of the islands of Bass's Straits and on the mainland of Victoria. Evidently 

 it was at one time an inhabitant of the South-eastern portion of this State, 

 where the Platypus and the Koala intruded into the South Australian fauna. 

 If it lingers in any corner of the South-East, I have been unable to ascertain. 

 I know of no South Australian specimens. 



The species is now regarded as extinct in South Australia (David 

 H. Fleay, in litt., June 1, 1937). 



Le Souef and Burrell, evidently referring to personal experience, 

 say (1926, p. 196) : "M. billardieri has been met with in Gippsland 

 (Victoria)." 



C. W. Brazenor writes (in litt., March 3, 1937) : "Once a common 

 animal in southern Victoria, the species has now entirely disap- 

 peared, though it is still found on the islands of Bass Strait and in 

 Tasmania." 



In the absence of the fox from Tasmania, this wallaby should 

 survive indefinitely in that country. 

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