28 MAMMALIA 



The Otago Society introduced one specimen in 1867, and 

 apparently others were privately introduced but not recorded, for the 

 late Mr F. Deans (Curator of the Society) wrote me in 1890: 



I do not know when these were liberated, but in 1869 I saw one on 

 several occasions where the Northern Cemetery (Dunedin) now is ; he went 

 bounding out of that gully while I was passing down to my work. I heard 

 of one or two having been killed by dogs in the gully above the rifle range. 



In 1868 Mr Christopher Basstian liberated three specimens on 

 the Dunrobin Station, but nothing was heard of them afterwards. 

 In the same year the captain of a vessel brought three kangaroos to 

 the Bluff, one male and two females. These were purchased by the 

 Southland AccUmatisation Society and liberated on the range of hills 

 there. Nothing further was ever heard of them. 



Wallaroo or Euro {Macropus robustus) 

 Some of these kangaroos were introduced into Kawau by Sir 

 George Grey in the sixties, but there is no subsequent record of 

 their occurrence there. 



Rock Wallaby (Petrogale xanthopus ?) 

 In 1873 the Auckland Society received a rock wallaby from Sir 

 James Fergusson, which was quite distinct from any previously 

 recorded, and which it is surmised belonged to the above species. 

 There is no later report of it. 



Kangaroo Rat {Potorous tridactylm) 

 The Auckland Society introduced this species in 1867, but no 

 later report of the Society mentions them. 



Family PhalangeridjE 



*Common Opossum, Grey Opossum, Brush-tailed Opossum, or 



Vulpine Phalanger {Trichosurus vulpecula; Phalangista vulpina) 



*Sooty Opossum (Trichosurus fuligtnosus) 

 The Australian and Tasmanian phalangers, or, as they are popularly 

 called "opossums," which are now so common in many forest- 

 covered parts of New Zealand were first introduced into Southland 

 by private individuals, and a few later on into other districts by some 

 of the societies. Details of these early introductions are somewhat 

 inexact and difficult to obtain. One report (Wellington Acclimatisa- 

 tion Society, 1892) says: 



These animals were first liberated in the bush behind South Riverton in 

 1858 by Mr Basstian. Some years after, one or two opossums (presumably 

 Australian Grey Opossums) escaped from confinement in the same neigh- 

 bourhood. In 1889 they were found to have increased enormously. 



