42 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



but they threw him out at a great distance by leaping 

 over the long thick grass, which prevented his run- 

 ning. This animal was observed not to run upon four 

 legs, but to bound or leap forward upon two, like the 

 jerboa." Finally, on Saturday, July 14, *' Mr. Gore, 

 who went out with his gun, had the good fortune to kill 

 one of these animals which had been so much the subject 

 of our speculation ; " adding, " This animal is called by 

 the natives kangaroo. The next day (Sunday, July 15) 

 our kangaroo was dressed for dinner, and proved most 

 excellent meat." Such is the earliest notice of this 

 animal's observation by Englishmen. 



Thus were we introduced to the knowledge of a creature 

 which at tirst could not be, and was not, expected to have 

 any special affinity to an animal so unlike it externally, 

 and an inhabitant of so distant a country, as is the 

 Virginian opossum. 



As, however, the knowledge of Australia increased, it 

 soon became evident that it was inhabited by a great 

 number of various kinds of beasts, every one of which 

 was quite different from all other beasts previously 

 known, with the exception of some bats, a rat, and the 

 Australian dog, the dingo. But, before proceeding to 

 review the peculiar animals then discovered, it will be 

 well briefly to take stock of all the various kinds of 

 beasts previously known. All kinds of beasts taken 

 together are considered by naturalists to form one class, 

 the class of "backboned animals which suckle their 

 young," or the class of mammals — mammalia. Other 

 classes of backboned animals are birds, reptiles, and fishes. 

 Every class is divisible into certain great groups called 

 " orders," and in this way the class of beasts is subdivided 

 into a number of orders such as the following : — i. Apes. 

 2. Bats. 3. Insectivorous beasts (such as the mole. 



