156 NEW SPECIES OF WALLABY. 



could have got there is a mystery, as there were no 

 large floating masses likely to have carried them 

 from the main. The species has been described 

 from a specimen we obtained, as Halmaturus 

 Houtmannii ; it is distinct from Halmaturus 

 Derhyanis, found on most of the islands on the 

 southern parts of the continent. 



We shall now fulfil our promise to the reader by 

 laying before him the result of Mr. Bynoe's inter- 

 esting observations on the Marsupiata, which the 

 number of wallaby killed at Houtman's Abrolhos 

 afforded him the means of perfecting. I may preface 

 his remarks by stating, that all the information I 

 could gain from the colonists on the subject was, 

 that the young of the kangaroo were born on the 

 nipple, which my own experience appears to corro- 

 borate. 



•' My first examination," says Mr. Bynoe, "of the 

 kangaroo tribe, to any extent, occurred at the Abrol- 

 hos ; there I had an extensive field for ascertaining the 

 exact state of the uteri of the wallaby of those islands. 

 I opened between two and three hundred, and never 

 found even the rudiments of an embryo ; but in the 

 pouch I have seen the young adhering to the nipple 

 from the weight of half a dram to eight ounces and 

 upwards. On examination, the only substance found 

 in the womb when the animal was young and full 

 grown, was a cheese-like substance of a straw colour : 

 I likewise found a similar substance in the pouch 

 around the nipples, and in many instances where 

 the nipples were much retracted, it completely 



