MACROPUS MAJOR. 251 



not more perhaps than in the jerboa. This disproportion between the 

 fore- and hind-legs is principally in the adult ; for, in the very young, 

 about the size of a half-grown rat, they are pretty well proportioned, 

 which shows that at the early period of life they do not use progressive 

 motion. The proportion of the different parts of which the hind-legs 

 are composed is very different. The thigh of the kangaroo is extremely 

 short, and the leg is very long. The hind-foot is uncommonly long, on 

 which, to appearance, are placed three toes ; the middle toe being by 

 much the largest and the strongest, and looking something like the 

 long toe of the ostrich. The outer toe is next in size, and what appears 

 to be the inner toe, consists of two enclosed in one skin or covering. 

 The great toe-nail is a good deal like that of an ostrich, as also the 

 nail of the outer toe ; and the inner, which appears to be but one toe, 

 has two small nails which are bent and sharp. From the heel or os 

 calcis, along the under side of the foot and toe, the skin is adapted for 

 walking or resting upon. They have a fibula the whole length of the 

 leg. The tarsal bones are four ; the metatarsal are three : one large in 

 the middle, but the inner one is divided or consists of two 1 . 



The fore-legs in the full-grown animal are small in comparison either 

 with the hind, or with the size of the animal: the hands are also 

 small ; the skin of the palm is different from the back of the hand and 

 fingers : there are five toes or fingers, the middle rather the longest, 

 becoming from that very gradually shorter, and are all nearly of the 

 same shape : the nails are sharp, fit for holding. 



The tail is long in the old one, but not so long in proportion to the 

 size of the animal in the young. It would seem to keep pace with the 

 growth of the hind-legs, which are the instruments of progressive 

 motion in the animal, and would show that the tail is a kind of second 

 instrument in this action. 



The upper lip is divided in the middle, each side rounded off at the 

 division. There are two clavicles; but they are short, so that the 

 shoulders are not thrown out. 



Of the Teeth. — The teeth of this animal are so singular, that it is 

 impossible from them to say what tribe it is of. There is a faint 

 mixture in the dentition corresponding to [that of] different tribes of 

 animals. 



Take the mouth at large respecting the situation of the teeth, it would 

 class in some degree with the Scalpris-dentata, in a fainter degree with 

 the horse and ruminants ; and with regard to the line of direction of all 

 the teeth, it is very like the Scalpris-dentata. The fore-teeth in the 



1 [Hunt. Osteol. Series, No. 1773.] 



