374 AUSTRALASIA. 



least three-fourths of the forests in the basin of the Hunter had already disap- 

 iDeared. The time seenis approaching when scarcelj^ a single tree will be left in 

 the boundless pastures of the interior. This ruthless destruction of the woodlands 

 has had the effect of transforming the most charming landscapes into dreary 

 monotonous wastes. But strange to say, the clearing of the forest tracts has not 

 been followed by any decrease in the annual rainfall, while such a luxuriant 

 herbage has been developed, that in some places a thousand sheep find an abun- 

 dance of food where scarcely a hundred could formerly be kept. The eucalyptus 

 and other trees, whose roots ramified far and wide in search of moisture, left little 

 for the grasses, which sprang up in the rainy season and perished on the return of 

 the drouo-hts. Now, however, the pastures receive the full benefit of the whole 

 supply, which sufiiciently explains their improved condition. 



Fauna of Australia. 



Like the flora, the Australian fauna presents a strikingly individual physiog- 

 nomy, attesting the long succession of ages during which this southern continent 

 has been separated from the Asiatic mainland. Of its 160 species of mammals 

 scarcely any correspond with those of the northern regions, except some rats, 

 mice, and the dingo, a half-wild dog, which probably accompanied the first human 

 immigrants, and the remains of which are found amongst the bones occurring in 

 former cave-dwellings. There is no elephant, no rhinoceros, no monkey, nor a 

 single member of the feline group. The characteristic species are, in fact, mainly 

 marsupials, which scarcely occur in any other region of the globe, except in 

 America, where several varieties of the opossum family occupy a wide range. 

 The fossils discovered in the Australian quaternary deposits show that at some 

 remote period the continental fauna resembled that still surviving, but was repre- 

 sented by animals of far larger dimensions. The diprotodon, a species allied to 

 that of the kangaroos, was nearly as large as the elephant, and others rivalled the 

 rhinoceros in size ; one variety of carnivorous phalanger was as formidable as a 

 lion, and birds of the emu family surpassed the largest ostriches in proportions. 



Of all Australian mammals the kangaroos and kindred forms are by far the 

 most numerous. There occur some fifty distinct species of these marsupials, one 

 of which, the great red kangaroo, is over 5 feet high and weighs as much as 225 

 lbs., while others are no bigger than a hare or even a rat. The other chief repre- 

 sentative animals of the Australian fauna are the peramelidœ, locally known as 

 " rabbits," which have the marsupial pouch like the kangaroo, but which run on 

 all fours like other quadrupeds, and not by a series of hops on the hind legs ; the 

 2)halangers, which live in trees and feed on leaves ; the phancolomys, or wombat, 

 which burrows in the ground and feeds on roots ; the carnivorous dasyuridœ, with 

 bear-like tail, which prey on mice, birds, and even small live-stock ; lastly, the 

 anomalous ornWiorhynchiis, or duck-bill, a monotreme oviparous mammal allied to 

 the marsupials. 



The Australian avifauna is very rich, comprising 630 species, or 130 more than 



