116 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Toolach; Toolache; Grey's Wallaby 



WALLABIA GRBYI (Waterhouse) 



Macropus (Halmaturus) Greyi Waterhouse, Nat. Hist. Mammalia, vol. 1, 

 p. 122, 1846. ("South Australia." Iredale and Troughton (1934, p. 50) 

 give, as a restricted type locality, the "Coorong, fide G. F. Angas.") 



FIGS.: Gould, 1852, vol. 2, pis. 18, 19; Finlayson, 1927, pis. 16, 17. 



This very beautiful wallaby, a former inhabitant of South Aus- 

 tralia, is apparently extinct in a wild state. "One or two specimens 

 in the Zoo at Adelaide are supposed to be the last living specimens 

 of this species" (A. S. Le Souef , in Hit., February 15, 1937) . 



General color pale ashy brown, tinted with yellowish; under parts, 

 legs, and feet pale buff-yellow; toes black; head gray; a pale yellow 

 cheek-stripe, bordered above with blackish and below with brownish ; 

 back of neck and back of ears pale rufous; tip of ears black; tail 

 very pale gray, brown-white beneath, and with a terminal crest of 

 dirty yellowish hairs. Head and body, 761 mm.; tail, 660 mm. 

 (Waterhouse, 1846, vol. 1, pp. 122-124.) Additional characters given 

 by Jones (1924, pp. 244-245) are: a white patch above eye; back 

 with 10 to 12 dark gray bands; an ill-defined pale hip-bar. Head 

 and body, 810-840 mm. ; tail, 710-730 mm. 



From the time of its discovery this species seems to have been 

 almost entirely confined to southeastern South Australia, chiefly 

 between the Murray River and Victoria. "Both species [Wallabia r. 

 rufogrisea and W. greyi] appeared to have crossed the Murray, but 

 the extent of their tenure of the river flats is difficult to estimate, 

 and from this north-western part of their range they were early 

 driven, or greatly reduced, by the rapid advance of closer settlement. 

 Their former presence in the lower part of the county of Sturt is 

 vouched for by many residents of that part of the country still 

 living." (Finlayson, 1927, p. 364.) 



"The species was not exclusively confined to South Australia, but 

 occurred also through a small strip of Victorian territory contiguous 

 to the border" (Finlayson, 1927, p. 366). 



"Mr. Strange informs me that he met with this animal 'between 

 Lake Albert and the Glenelg. The kind of country in which it is 

 found consists of large open plains intersected by extensive salt 

 lagoons and bordered by pine ridges. ... I never saw anything 

 so swift of foot as this species: it does not appear to hurry itself 

 until the dogs have got pretty close, when it bounds away like 

 an antelope, with first a short jump and then a long one, leaving the 

 dogs far behind it. ... I have had twenty runs in a day with four 

 swift dogs and not succeeded in getting one.' " (Gould, 1863, vol. 2, 

 p. 25.) 



"Many people can remember the time when Toolaches swarmed 



