On a new AustraUan Kangaroo. 



609 



LXXI. — A new Kangaroo from the Northern Territory of 

 Western Australia. ' By Oldfield Thomas. 



(Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



I OWE to tlie kindness of Mr. B. H. "Woodward, of the 

 AVestern Australian Museum, the opportunity of examining 

 the specimens on which the following new subspecies is 

 founded : — 



Macropus rohustus hracteator, subsp. n. 



Near M. r. woodwardi, but longer-haired, and browner, 

 less rufous. Fur, compared with that of M. r. tvoodwardi and 

 alligatoris, long and thick, as in M. r. cerviiais and rubens ; 

 hairs of nape wiiolly or partially directed forwards from a 

 whorl on the withers. 



General colour above pale '' mars brown," the hairs '' fawn" 

 at base with black tips ; the resulting colour not unlike that 

 in the shorter-haired o/Z/^C!^o?v*5. Chin brown ; rest of middle 

 line of under surface creamy white. Head like back. Ectote 

 of ear brighter, tending towards russet; long hairs of entote 

 wiiite. Limbs wiiitish, darkening on the hands and feet to 

 black on the digits. Tail whitish fawn, not darkening 

 terminally. 



Female not essentially different from male. The head is 

 rather greyer ; the ears browner, with a contrasted tuft of 

 russet at their anterior base ; limbs almost completely white, 

 the digits scarcely darker. 



Skull very like that of M. r. looodivardi, but those of all 

 the subspecies are very like each other, and I am by no 

 means satisfied as to the constancy of the cranial characters 

 used by Mr. Schwarz * to separate the different forms. 

 The upper profile of the present animal is unusually bowed ; 

 nasals convex in both directions ; sides of nasal cavity less 

 bowed outwards than in rubens ', coronoid process of medium 

 dimensions. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in flesh) : — 



Head and body 965 mm.; tail 813; hind foot 316; 

 ear 113. 



Skull : greatest length 180 ; basal length 159 ; greatest 

 breadth 9-1 ; nasals, length 81, greatest breadth 25, anterior 

 breadth 19*4 ; intertemporal breadth 15 ; palatal length 110 ; 

 length of secator 9'2. 



* XoT. Zool. xvii. p. 96 (1910). 



