PHYSIOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALASIA. 



'353 



THE LYRE I!II<I). 



THE 



EAGLE. 



adapted for swift locomotion over grassy plains, and have the teeth adapt. <1 to the 



cropping and chewing of herbage. The apparatus possessed by the kangaroo for cutting 



the grass is widely different, however, from 

 that to be observed in the hoofed quadru- 

 peds just referred to ; in these the action is 

 similar to that of a chopper formed by the 

 lower front teeth pressing the bunch of grass 

 against a pad on the upper jaw and partly 

 dividing it, the grass being finally torn across 

 by 'a sharp jerk of the head. In the kan- 

 garoos, on the other hand, the action is more 

 like that of a pair of shears ; this is brought 

 about by a curious arrangement of the lower 

 jaw, each half of which ends in front in a 

 long tooth with a sharp inner edge ; the inner 

 edges of these two teeth are capable of being 



brought into close contact with one another by the approximation 



of the two halves of the lower jaw, which can be moved sideways. 



When the kangaroo is feeding, it separates the two halves of the 



lower jaw so as to open up a space between the two cutting 



teeth to enclose a bunch of herbage, which 

 is then snipped off, usually close to the ground, 



by the bgrining together again of the two halves of the jaw, a little 

 twisting movement of the head aiding the action and tearing across 

 blades of grass that have not been cut through. The kangaroo-rats 

 and the tree-kangaroos differ somewhat widely in their habits and 

 mode of locomotion from the ordinary members of this family, the 

 former runnine somewhat after the fashion of a hare, and excavating 



t^> O 



burrows in the ground, while the latter, which are confined to 

 Northern- Queensland and New Guinea, have the limbs so modified as 

 to enable them to climb among the branches of trees. 

 The marsupials of the family of phalangers, or 

 Australian opossums, are all arboreal animals of noc- 

 turnal habits, having the limbs and also the tail, 



which is long and prehensile, 



adapted for a life spent for 



the most part among the 



branches of trees ; they feed 



on the foliage of the Knca- 



/r/>//, and such wild fruits as 



they can get, and are very 



serious enemies to the farmer 



and horticulturist in districts 



where they are abundant. 



THE OPOSSUM. 





Til!', NATIVE CAT. 



THE NATIVE I'.EAK. 



