386 THE KANGUROO TRIBE. 



ing is her account of it. " By way of filling up a 

 plate, I have represented a kind of Wood-rat, that 

 always carries her young ones (of which there are 

 commonly five or six) upon her back. She is of 

 a yellow-brownish colour, and white beneath. When 

 these Rats come out of their hole, either to play or 

 to seek their foodj the young run about with 

 their mother ; and when satisfied with food^ or 

 apprehensive of danger, they climb on her back, and 

 twist their tails round that of the parent, who thus 

 runs with them into her hole again." 



The paws resemble those of the Ape ; having 

 four fingers and a thumb, with small rounded nails. 

 The hind feet have four sharp claws, and a round 

 nail on the thumb of each *. 



THE KANGfUROO TRIBE. 



THE Kanguroos (of which only two species have 

 yet been discovered, and both of these in New Hol- 

 land) are furnished, like the Opossums, with an 

 abdominal pouch. This, and a few other characters 

 that they have in common with that tribe, caused 

 them to be arranged by Linnaeus, along with the 

 Opossums. They have, however, since been taken 

 into a separate tribe with the following characteris- 

 tics : — Six front teeth in the upper jaw, emarginat- 

 ed ; and two in the lower, very large, long, and 



* Kerr, i. 195. — Sliaw, i. -t85. 



