THE KANGAROO. 363 



animal which would be supposed to furnish an agreeable article of diet to any one, except to a 

 starving man in the last extremity of hunger. Yet the natives of Madagascar esteem it among 

 their rarest luxuries, and are so tenacious of this very powerful food, that they can hardly be 

 induced to part with a specimen which they have captured, and which they have already 

 dedicated, in anticipation, to the composition of some wonderful specimen of the cook's art. 



. The Tanrec is an inhabitant of Madagascar, as may be deduced from its popular title of 

 Madagascar Hedgehog, but has been taken to the Mauritius and there naturalized. 



There are other species of the Madagascar Hedgehog, besides the tanrec, among which 

 are recognized the Tendrac, or Spiny Tenrec {Centetes spinosus), and the Banded Tenrec 

 {Centetes madagasearensis). 



The former of these animals is inferior in size to the tanrec, being only five or six inches 

 in length. The color of this animal is rather rich and varied, owing to the deep tinting of the 

 quills and the soft hues of the long and flexible hairs which stud the body intermixed with 

 the quills. The hair is of pale yellow, and the quills are of a deep red or mahogany tint 

 towards their points, and white towards their bases. The long coarse hairs which cover the 

 abdomen and the legs are annulated. This animal is said to be generally found in the 

 neighborhood of water, whether fresh or salt, and to make deep burrows near the bank. The 

 natives esteem it highly as an article of food. 



The Banded Tenrec, or Varied Tenrec, as the name is sometimes given, is also a native 

 of Madagascar, and has derived its title of Banded, or Varied, from the bold coloring of the 

 quills and hair. 



The general color of the back is a blackish-brown, diversified with three bold stripes of 

 yellowish -white, that afford a strong contrast with the dark ground-hues of the back. The 

 centre one of these stripes extends along the entire length of the animal, and the two others 

 commence by the ear and terminate by the flank. The hair that covers the under portions of 

 the body is of a yellowish-white color. 



KANGAROOS, OPOSSUMS, ETC. 



The extraordinary animals which are grouped together under the title of Macropidse, 

 are, with the exception of the well known opossum of Virginia, inhabitants of Australasia and 

 the islands of the Indian Archipelago. 



Many of these creatures, such as the kangaroo, some of the opossums, and the petau- 

 ristes, are of such singular formation, and so remarkable in their habits of life, that if they 

 had not been made familiar to us through the mediumship of menageries, museums, and the 

 writings of accredited travellers, we should feel rather inclined to consider them and their 

 habits to be but emanations from the fertile brain of some imaginative voyager, who was taking 

 full advantage of the proverbial traveller's licence. Even at the present day, our familiarity 

 with these animals in no way derogates from our wonder at their strange conformation ; and 

 the structure of many of them is so complicated, and involves so many considerations, that 

 the study of the Macropidpe and their habits is as yet but little advanced. Anatomists such as 

 Owen, Meckel, John Hunter, and scientific travellers such as Gould, have done much towards 

 clearing up many dubious points in the history of these animals, but the subject is yet com- 

 paratively in obscurity, and much remains to be achieved by future zoologists. 



Many acknowledged species are known but as "specimens," no accounts of their mode of 

 life, the localities which they most frequent, their food, or their habits, having as yet been 

 given to the world ; while it is more than suspected that in many of the vast unexplored por- 

 tions of Australasia may yet be found numerous species of these animals which are as yet 



