24)6 THE KANGAROOS. 



for some little time, and then return soon to leap 

 back again, — and I suppose he, or rather she, tried to 

 believe this shelf was a projecting piece of rock, and 

 that she was still in her native wilds, — it must have 

 been severe duty for the imagination. The tail ap- 

 peared to be used more as a balance to the body, 

 than as an extra limb to rest upon, as in other Kan- 

 garoos. Its movements were remarkably quick. 



Closely allied to, if not identical with, the present 

 species, appears to be the animal described by M. 

 Jourdan under the name 



Heteropus aloogularis.* 



In this species the tail is said to be of equal thick- 

 ness throughout, strong, and covered with harsh 

 hairs ; the fur is woolly, excepting on the extremity 

 of the haunches ; on the head is a longitudinal brown 

 line; the cheeks are whitish; the ears are black ex- 

 ternally, and yellow within ; the throat is white, and 

 the chest and belly are of a rusty colour ; the neck 

 and upper parts of the back are grey ; and the ex- 

 tremity of the limbs and tail are deep brown ; the 

 last is terminated with white. 



The dimensions, reduced to English measure, are 

 as follows : — Total length, 51 inches 4 lines; fore- 

 legs, 4| inches; hind-legs, 11 inches 10 lines; body, 

 23 inches 9 lines; tail, 22 inches 1 line; tarsi, 3 

 inches 2 lines ; skull, 4 inches 4 lines. 



* See Compte Rendu des Seances de PAcademie des Sciences 

 for Oct. 9, 1839, p. 522, 



