350 FAMILY MACROPODHXaE ; KANGAROOS. 



clasp them around its antagonist, and hug it to death, or hold it 

 beneath the surface of the nearest water until it is drowned. 



313. A considerable number of species of this group, differ- 

 ing in size, but bearing a strong resemblance to each other in 

 form and habits, have been discovered in New Holland, Van 

 Diemen^s Land, and New Guinea. The largest at present 

 known is the Great Kangaroo > which is very extensively dif- 

 fused through the two former countries, preferring the low 

 grassy hills and plains skirted by thin open forests of brushwood, 

 to which it resorts for shelter from the oppressive heat of the 

 mid-day sun ; but it is also found on the bleak and even snow- 

 capped summits of mountains. The male, which greatly exceeds 

 the female in size, has been known to measure nearly eight feet 

 from the nose to the extremity of the tail (the length of the 

 latter being three feet) ; and to weigh 220 Ibs. The other 

 species, however, are much smaller. The young are produced 

 in an extremely imperfect state. One which was examined 

 twelve hours after birth, is thus described by Mr. Owen. " It 

 resembled an earth-worm in the colour and semi-transparency of 

 its integument, adhered firmly to the point of the nipple, breathed 

 strongly, but slowly, and moved its fore-legs when disturbed. Its 

 body was bent upon the abdomen, its short tail tucked in between 

 the hind-legs, which were one-third shorter than the fore-legs. 

 The whole length from the nose to the end of the tail when 

 stretched out, did not exceed one inch and two lines." In this 

 condition it is not able to suck the milk from the teat of its 

 parent ; but the mammary gland of the Kangaroo is acted on by 

 a peculiar muscle, which presses the fluid from it into the mouth 

 of the young animal. The embryo (for such it must be still 

 considered) continues to increase by sustenance derived exclu- 

 sively from the mother, for a period of eight months ; but it then 

 begins to protrude its head occasionally from the orifice of the 

 pouch, and to crop the grass at the same time that the mother is 

 browsing. Having thus acquired additional strength, it quits 

 the pouch, and hops at first with a feeble and vacillating gait ; 

 but it continues to return to the pouch for occasional shelter and 

 supplies of food, until it has attained the weight of 10 Ibs. 



