OEDEE OF MAESUPIALS. 



23 



Prevost riglitly, they are remarkable for their great developraent 

 of those parts of which the meat is most esteemed, such as the 

 loins, the buttocks, and the thighs. Certain species, moreover, 

 have excellent and very choice fur. One might at the same time 

 domesticate them, and let them live freely wild with Hares, 

 Rabbits, and other game. Very curiously, these animals can 

 move their large lower incisors so as to snip or cut the herbage 

 in the manner of a pair of shears. 



About fifty species of Kangaroo are already known, varying 



■K in^xioo Bat, i r Ptjtoiuu 



extremely in size. Some are more than a metre in length : for 

 instance, the Giant Kangaroo (Fig. 4), the Red Kangaroo, &c. 

 Others, and these are the greatest in number, do not exceed a 

 metre. Lastly, there are some whose size is so small, that they 

 have been called Kangaroo Rats (Fig. 6) ; they are also called 

 Potoroos {Hypsiprymnm). Indeed, several other divisions have 

 lately been established among the Kangaroos, the most remarkable 

 of which is that of the Tree Kangaroos {Dendrolagm) of New Guinea, 

 which has been already referred to. These would appear to pass 



