VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF HOUTMAN's ABROLHOS. -159 



Section 1. — The Land Vertebrates. 

 MAMMALIA. 



Rodentia. Mukids. 



Epimys fuscipes ( Waterhouse) (not Gould). Dusky-footed Rut. 



Two examples of this species, obtained in November 1907, are in the 

 "Western Australian Museum. They were caught on the sand-hills on East 

 Wallaby Island, the only locality in which we met with the species. 



The Abrolhos specimens are decidedly smaller than those in the W.A. 

 Museum from other localities, and their skulls are narrower in proportion to 

 their length. As the teeth are only slightly worn, it is probable that both 

 specimens are young, and these differences may be due to age. When a 

 longer series is available, it may be necessary to create a subspecies for them. 



Marsupialia. Iacropodid*. 

 Macropus eugenii houtmanni (Gould). Dama Wallaby or Tammer. 



As already mentioned, this wallaby was first met with by Pelsart in 1629 

 on " two or three of the larger islands." The types of Macropus houtmanni, 

 Gould, were obtained by the naturalists of the ' Beagle ' in 1810 on East 

 and West Wallaby Islands, the only islands on which they are found, and 

 are in the British Museum, together with specimens obtained by Gilbert. 

 In 1888 Oldfield Thomas wrote (7) : "I have come to the conclusion that it 

 is impossible to admit more than a single western species, notwithstanding 

 the very striking differences that exist between the individuals long isolated 

 in the islands of the Houtman's Abrolhos and those living on the mainland. 

 The differences fade away on the examination of a large series, and specimens 

 from the small islets close to the coast are as a rule more or less inter- 

 mediate." 



Since 1888 the general use of trinomials to designate differences of this 

 nature leads me to suppose that Mr. Thomas would now adopt the nomen- 

 clature I am using, especially when it is borne in mind that the small islands 

 to which he refers as inhabited by intermediate forms are not geographically 

 intermediate, but lie off the south coast of Australia at the opposite extremity 

 of the range of the species on the mainland. 



The animals are very plentiful on the two islands which they inhabit, 

 chiefly amongst the coastal sand-hills and on the portions of the islands where 

 the limestone rock outcrops. These are the only regions where the bushes 

 are large enough to afford them cover during the daytime, which they appear 

 to spend in the shade, only coining out at night. 



31* 



