240 



POUCHED MAMMALS. 



THE TRUE KANGAROOS AND WALLABIES. 

 Genus Macropus. 



In the summer of the year 1770, when Captain Cook was refitting his vessel 

 at the mouth of the Endeavour River in New South Wales, a party of his crew 

 who had landed to procure food brought back reports of a strange animal of large 

 size, which sat upright on its hind-limbs and tail, and progressed by a series of 

 enormous leaps. Excitement among those on board was naturally raised to the 

 highest pitch by this account especially as a naturalist, Sir Joseph Banks, was a 



member of the ex- 

 pedition ; and soon 

 after a specimen of 

 the animal in ques- 

 tion was killed. This 

 creature was the one 

 we now know by the 

 name of the great 

 grey kangaroo (Mac- 

 ropus giganteus) ; 

 and was the first 

 member of the family 

 which came fully 

 under European 

 notice, although one 

 of the smaller forms 

 from the Aru Islands 

 had been partially 

 made known as early 

 as the year 1711. 

 The name kangaroo, 

 it may be observed, 



is said to be of Australian origin, although it appears to be now unknown to the 

 natives. The kangaroos and wallabies, which include the largest members of the 

 family, are characterised by the great length and powerful development of the 

 hind-limbs as compared with the front pair ; and the enormous size of the tail, 

 which is regularly tapering, and evenly covered with fur from end to end. In the 

 hind-foot the claw of the fourth toe is enormously developed, and the first toe 

 is wanting. The head is small, with an elongated and usually completely naked 

 muzzle, and large upright ears. The females have four teats. The skull is 

 characterised by its smooth and rounded contours, and the absence of any 

 inflation in the bulla of the internal ear. The tusk in the upper jaw is minute, 

 and shed at an early period; and the upper incisor teeth are of nearly equal 

 length, and form a regular open curve. The lower incisor teeth have sharp inner 

 edges capable of cutting against one another in a scissor-like manner; and the 

 crowns of the molar teeth carry a pair of transverse ridges, which are nearly 



THE GEEAT GREY KANGAROO, WITH YOUNG IN POUCH. 



