ZOOLOGY. 



Country, as only one specimen is known to be in England, 

 and which is in Mr. Bullock's Museum. The number of 

 the teeth however is not of so mucli consequence in this case, 

 because it varies in almost all the species of the genus 

 Dipus, the general arrangement or situation however is always 

 the same, and agrees with the character of the genus which 

 we have given at the head of this Chapter. The Dipus 

 Muscola is of a placid agreeable appearance and is probably 

 capable of being tamed, like its relation the Kangaroo, as 

 it is used to a climate similar in a great measure to that of 

 England, it is not wholly improbable but that it may one 

 day become a domesticated Animal. These Creatures have 

 also the power of sitting up or resting on their hinder feet 

 like the Squirrel and the Hare; the flesh of which they 

 resemble a good deal in flavour, and it is said to be by no 

 means an unpleasant kind of food. 



The different species of this genus, already discovered 

 in New Holland, amounts already to five or six, and pro- 

 bably other kinds may be found when the Country is more 

 penetrated, for being of itself larger than Europe, it is 

 natural to suppose that a great variety of Animals must 

 inhabit so extensive a region. We ought perhaps not to 

 omit the remark that the two inner claws of the hinder feet 

 of this singular Animal have a ridge or narrow hollow pro- 

 cess running down the middle of them, which makes them 

 look as if they were double, and in which circumstance 

 they resemble exactly the Kangaroo and other Animals 

 brought from Botany Bay. The general height of the 

 Animal is about eight inches, that of the Kangaroo Rat, 

 twenty -two; the hair of the Dipus Muscola is by far the 

 most silky and smooth in its texture, and is of a light brown 

 colour mixed with grey. 



