12 



K A N G U R O O. 



and the under part reddish brown. The head dark 

 grey, with a mesial line of deeper colour ; the cheeks 

 and throat marked by spots of a pale tint, the feet 

 dark coloured, and the tail as long as the body, and 

 furnished with a thick brush or tuft of hair at the 

 extremity. The muzzle is much more glender 

 than in those kanguroos which are more abundant, 

 and the corners of the mouth are furnished with 

 whiskers consisting of a few long and stiff hairs. The 

 animal has, however, been so seldom seen, that the 

 accounts of it are very imperfect, though we believe 

 that the museum of the Liunaean Society contains at 

 least one specimen. 



BANDED KANGUROO (K. fasciatus}. This species 

 is of a grey colour, with a brown band across the 

 back and loins. It was known as early as the time of 

 Darnpier, and it has been repeatedly observed since. 

 It has many peculiarities both of form and of struc- 

 ture, which appear to entitle it to rank as a species. 

 The muzzle is much shorter and the head rounder 

 than in most of the others, and altogether it has a 

 more elegant appearance. Though we have stated 

 the general colour as being grey with brown on the 

 back and loins, yet there is so much effect in the 

 markings and contrasts of the colours, that it has 

 sometimes been styled the elegant kanguroo. The 

 hinder part of the body is very generally marked 

 with transverse streaks of grey, red, and black, which 

 contrast boldly with each other in some places, and 

 are blended in others so as to give it a very rich ap- 

 pearance. The outsides of the legs and the muzzle 

 are deep red, and the under parts and the tail grey, 

 with the exception of the tips of the latter, which is 

 black. This species has been met with only on the 

 east coast of New Holland, near the sea shore, or on 

 some of the small islands which are found on that 

 coast; but, as is the case with all the rest, it is 

 scarcely possible to study its habits in a state of 

 nature ; and the few specimens which have been ob- 

 tained were shot, so that little or nothing is known of 

 it except as a dead animal. It is described as being 

 rather smaller than the common kangaroos, which 

 are often met with living, and with whose manners 

 we are, at least, a little acquainted ; but still, as there 

 appear to be climata! varieties in other parts of 

 Australia, and as we are uncertain what changes 

 may result from crosses between the varieties of 

 different regions, which may frequently meet in a 

 country so much burnt up during the long droughts, 

 and where animals are necessarily so much put to 

 their shifts, we can come to no positive conclusion 

 concerning it. 



There are several other species 1 named by the 

 French naturalists that visited Australia and the 

 islands in the adjoining seas ; but as, on some oc- 

 casions at least, they appear to have gone more for 

 the purpose of naming, than for that of discovering 

 and discriminating, the accounts which they pub- 

 lished, and which have been repeated again and 

 again, cannot be depended on ; neither can we be 

 certain that the different specimens of animals which 

 they brought, on very casual visits to a most exten- 

 sive country, of which they saw only limited portions 

 of the shores, are distinct species, or even varieties, 

 or merely the same identical species in different 

 stages of their growth and different states of their 

 colouring. That the scientific men who went out on 

 these occasions were talented and zealous in their 

 vocations we have not the least reason to doubt ; but 



it so happened that while France was politically at 

 war w ith this country, some of those expeditions went 

 out for the express and avowed purpose of taking by 

 storm every English name which had been given to 

 a place, an animal, or a thing within the limits of the 

 territory, and substituting a French name in its stead. 

 Accordingly we find some of the most ludicrous geo- 

 graphical puzzles in the translations which have been 

 made from the reports of those visiters, into compi- 

 lations on natural history published in this country. 

 Those translators and compilers are, generally speak- 

 ing, marvellously unencumbered with knowledge, 

 and especially with geographical knowledge ; and 

 as the English answering to those French names 

 is not to be found in the dictionary, and as the names 

 themselves are now forgotten even in France, we 

 often find an animal set down as an inhabitant of 

 some place which has no existence. 



In as far as the British residents within the colony 

 are concerned, the natural history of Australia was, 

 till within these few years, vague and imperfect 

 enough ; for the chief persons that ranged into the 

 fastnesses of the country were those expatriated out- 

 casts of Britain, at whose hands a taste for anything 

 but the gratification of their animal passions at the 

 least possible expense of labour could not be expected. 



Of late years, however, there has been much im- 

 provement ; and those who are interested in the 

 knowledge of nature and who, being capable of 

 thought, can fail in being so interested are deeply 

 indebted to the Zoological Society of London, which 

 has given concentration and vigour to the science of 

 living nature, has enlisted very many officers of the 

 army and navy among its corresponding members ; 

 and they most commendably keep up that energy 

 and enterprise which are at once the .province and 

 the glory of their callings, by extending our natural 

 knowledge of the several regions in which they reside. 

 In so far as Australia is concerned, there is still only 

 a beginning in proportion to what we may ultimately 

 expect ; but still a beginning is the step, and that 

 being taken, we may feel confident as to the progress. 

 Through their agency, and the investigations of sci- 

 entific men at home, the perplexing anomaly relating 

 to the ornithorhynchus has been cleared up ; and we 

 may confidently hope that ere long the very peculiar 

 zoology of our Australian colony, the most extensive 

 in mere breadth, will be elucidated in a manner 

 honourable to Britons and instructive to the whole 

 human race. 



KANGUROO RAT (Patoroo}. A genus of marsupial 

 mammalia, found in New Holland ; and though dif- 

 fering in some essential particulars from the kangaroos, 

 properly so called, yet agreeing with them in some 

 respects. There is only one animal of this genus, so 

 far as has been hitherto discovered ; but it has had 

 the advantage of many names, if that can be consi- 

 dered an advantage. Dr. Shaw, whose judgment 

 was seldom so praiseworthy as his industry, and who, 

 we believe, was among the first into whose hands it 

 came, called it the little kanguroo (Macroj)us minor). 

 Illiger, we believe, gave it the name of Hypsiprymnus, 

 which means " elevated rump," from the great length 

 of its hind legs ; and the colonists of New Holland 

 call it the kanguroo rat. The first part of the name 

 being founded chiefly on its form, and the second on 

 its size. It is, however, a distinct and peculiar ani- 

 mal, and perhaps a better name for it cannot be found 

 than Paloroo, which it is called by the aborigines of 



