KANGAROOS. 471 



quently in the Zoological Gardens, and it is so grotesque, and so 

 unlike anything a kangaroo would seem to be capable of, that a 

 draughtsman who should transfer it to paper would be thought to 

 be labouring under the effects of a disordered imagination. All 

 the slow movements are awkwat-d and unattractive, as when the 

 animal is crawling along with its short fore-feet spread upon the 

 ground, dragging the long hind-legs and massive tail after it, or 

 sitting up scratching its sides and back ; but at full gallop, with 

 dogs in chase, over short grass covering the ground in magnificent 

 leaps, executed with the utmost rapidity, it presents a picture of 

 graceful and powerful action, unsurpassed by anythiag in the 

 animal world." 



But the most singular formation of the kangaroo is its ab- 

 dominal pouch, which is a feature only to be seen in this animal 

 and the opossurq. Take the instance of the great kangaroo : 

 although it is a large animal, standing upwards of six feet high 

 when adult, yet it is born when scarcely more than an inch long, 

 and weighs about twenty grains ; its skin is naked, and it is in 

 such a feeble and undeveloped condition that it looks very much 

 like a small earth-worm. It has not even developed the power of 

 suction. The mother has, therefore, to foster her offspring for 

 a considerable period after its birth, and to enable her to do this 

 she is supplied with a pouch or marsupium, to which the young 

 one is transferred, and she therein attaches it to her breast, and 

 has herself to inject the milk with which it is nourished. Pro- 

 fessor Owen, who examined a young kangaroo twelve hours 

 after birth, said that it breathed strongly but slowly, and ex- 

 traordinary as it may appear, the fore-legs were one-third larger 

 than the hind-legs. No doubt this construction is rendered 

 necessary to enable the diminutive creature to move about in the 

 pouch, while the hind-legs, which would be of no service to it 

 at this period of existence, remain undeveloped until the animal's 

 requirements necessitate their employment, when they rapidly 

 grow to the proportions seen in the parents. 



The young one does not cease to reside within the pouch until 

 it has reached its full maturity. It occasionally, however, 

 comes out for exercise or amusement. Even after it has grown 



