THE KANGAROO 433 



mating to the Flying Squirrel ; and the Tasmanian Wolf, 

 Tasmanian Devil, and the native Cats, in habits and food, 

 might easily pass for typical carnivores. 



The Marsupials are not only distinguished from the rest 

 of the animal world by fundamental structural differences, 

 they are equally separated by geographical location. Ex- 

 cept for the American Opossums, the whole order is 

 restricted to Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and a few 

 adjacent islands, and save only a few small Rodents, 

 Australia possesses no other indigenous animals. 



FAMILY MACROPODID.E (KANGAROOS). 



GREAT GREY KANGAROO (Macropus giganteus). 



Coloured Plate XXXII. Fig. 6. 



In this family, whose generic name means ' long-footed/ 

 we find the largest as well as the smallest of the Marsupials, 

 suggestive of reflections of the jumping Rodents, such as 

 the jerboa and the chinchilla. In many respects the general 

 form of the Kangaroo is very much like that of the jerboa, 

 the hind legs being exceedingly long. 



The Great Grey Kangaroo is the most familiar of twenty- 

 four known species. A full-grown male attains a length 

 of five feet from the tip of the nose to the root of the 

 tail, and weighs anything from a hundred and fifty to two 

 hundred pounds. The neck is thin and finely propor- 

 tioned, and from it the body expands in pear-shaped 

 fashion to the strong hindquarters. The hind legs, three 

 and a half feet in length, are usually the only limbs used 

 for progression ; the fore legs are only half as long, and 

 are used chiefly as hands, the food being taken with them 

 and held to the mouth. The fore feet each end in five 

 toes, all fitted with strong, curved nails. The hind feet 

 usually have four toes, one of which is nearly a foot in 

 length and armed with a particularly large and solid nail 

 that renders the toe a powerful and formidable claw. The 

 teeth of the Kangaroo are interesting in their structure, the 

 chief points being the singularly long, flattened, and pro- 



29 



