166 THE KANGAROOS. 



extremities and tail, hence the whole weight and 

 strength is thrown into these parts : the great length 

 and size of the tail also serves to balance the body, 

 not only when in its ordinary semi- erect position, but 

 in the enormous leaps by which these animals pro- 

 gress. The fore part of the body being elevated, 

 gives to the eye a wide range, which is essential to 

 animals, inhabiting for the most part open plains,* 

 and whose escape from danger must be by flight. 

 The prehensile and unguiculate structure of the 

 anterior extremities " appear to have been indis- 

 pensable to animals requiring to perform various 

 manipulations in relation to the economy of the 

 Marsupial pouch, and when such an animal is des- 

 tined, like the Kuminant, to range the wilderness 

 in quest of pasturage, the requisite powers of the 

 anterior members are retained and secured to it by 

 an enormous development of the hinder extremities, 

 to which the junction of locomotion is almost restrict- 

 ed." t 



On the fore-feet there are five well-developed toes, 

 each of which is armed with a large and strong nail, 

 and this is curved, concave on the under surface and 

 convex above; the two outer toes are the shortest 

 and the central one is the longest. The hind-feet are 

 furnished with one very large central toe, and an 

 outer one, which is shorter and smaller, but, like the 



* The small species are most frequently found in thickets, 

 and it would appear, nearly resemble the hares in their habits. 



-j- Professor Owen on the Osteology of the Maisupialia — 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society for October 1838, p. 140. 



