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MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



and the powerful hind -limbs the Kangaroos are enabled to 

 effect extraordinarily long and continuous leaps. In fact, leap- 

 ing is the ordinary mode of progression in the typical Kan- 

 garoos ; and when walking upon all fours their locomotion 

 is slow and ungraceful. The anterior extremity of the body is 

 very diminutive as compared with the posterior, and the fore- 

 limbs are quite small, but have five well-developed toes armed 



Fig. 238. Koala or Kangaroo-bear (Phascolarctos cine reus) after Gould. 



with strong nails. The head is small, with large ears, and the 

 dental formula is 



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44 



1> o o 



There are therefore six upper incisors, two lower incisors, 

 and no functional canines (though rudimentary upper canines 

 are present in the young of some of the Kangaroos, at any 

 rate). The stomach is complex, and sacculated. The Kan- 

 garoos are all herbivorous, and mostly live, either scattered or 

 gregariously, on the great grassy plains of Australia. The 

 "Tree-kangaroos," however (constituting the genus Dendro- 

 lagus), live mostly in trees and, in adaptation to this mode of 

 life, the fore-legs are nearly as long and strong as the hind-legs, 

 the tail is not used as a support, and the claws are long, curved, 

 and pointed. They are natives of New Guinea. The " Rock 



