MACROPODID^S. 16? 



first, armed with a large solid nail which is but 

 slightly curved, convex., and sometimes keeled on 

 the upper surface, and flat beneath : on the inner 

 side of the foot are two small slender toes, united 

 in one common integument, and having the appear- 

 ance of a single toe the nails however are separate, 

 of small size, and hollow beneath ; these nails I have 

 repeatedly seen used by the animal to cleanse its fur. 

 The tarsus is devoid of hair beneath, but covered 

 with minute hardened tubercles -these are most dis- 

 tinct in those species which inhabit rocky situations. 

 The ears are usually of moderate size, oval form, and 

 tolerably well clothed with hair. 



The dental formula in the genus Macropus is as 

 follows : 



Incisors, f ; canines, :g ; false molars, \'.\ ; true 

 molars, f ;f =28. Such is the number of teeth gene- 

 rally found in the species of this genus, but in some 

 species (M. giganteus, M. rufo-griseus, M. ruficollis, 

 and M. fuliginosus,} the anterior or false molar, we 

 are informed by M. F. Cuvier,* is wanting. In a 

 skull of M. giganteus now before me, and which be- 

 longed to an animal not quite adult, the number of 

 molars visible is '_ ; a second skull, belonging to an 

 adult animal has f ; molars, as described by M. F. 

 Cuvier. In the first mentioned of these two skulls, 

 the last molar on each side of each jaw, though 

 visible, had not penetrated the gum, and had the 

 animal lived a little longer the following changes 



* " Des Dents des Mammiferes," p. 135 and p. 137. 



