MAMMALIA. 413 
The genus Macropus contains upwards of thirty species, and has been 
subdivided into several divisions, into the details of which we cannot here 
enter. The great kangaroo (M. giganteus) is the type of the genus. It 
inhabits New South Wales, Southern and Western Australia, and Van 
Diemen’s Land, preferring low grassy hills, and plains, and open parts of 
the country. In Macropus proper the disproportion between the fore and 
hind legs is much greater, and the tail more powerful, than in the othes 
section of the genus. The snout is hairy. 
The section to which the name of Onychogalea has been given, comprises 
some of the most graceful species of the kangaroo tribe. The size is mode- 
rate; the snout is clothed with hair; the fur short. 
In the sub-generic section of Lagorchestis the snout is clothed with 
velvet-like hairs; the fore legs are small, and the hand provided with small 
sharp-pointed nails. They inhabit open plains, and have a general resem- 
blance to the common hare. 
In Halmaturus, the snout or muzzle is naked in front. This section con- 
tains the most numerous species, which are found in districts that are well 
clothed with shrubs. Two species are represented in our plates, H. laniger 
(pl. 112, fig. 11, a b), and H.. dorsalis (pl. 112, fig. 12, a 6). 
Heteropus are kangaroos with a naked snout; the hind foot short and 
stout, and densely clothed with coarse hairs; nails small; tail cylindrical, 
and provided with long hairs, especially on the tip. They inhabit rocky 
situations. Several species of Macropus have been found in a fossil state, 
all of them confined to Australia. Some had attained a very large size. 
The genus Dendrolagus includes kangaroos with anterior extremities 
large and powerful, being but little inferior in size to the posterior ones. 
The claws of the fore feet are very large, curved, and pointed ; the muzzle 
is clothed with small hairs as far forwards as the anterior angle of the 
nostrils ; the tail is long, cylindrical, and somewhat bushy. Two species 
of this genus are known, both of which inhabit New Guinea, and are said 
to ascend the trees, for which habit their strong fore legs, added to the 
curved and powerful claws, are adapted. 
The genus Hypsiprymnus has a distinct canine tooth in the upper jaw, 
and the anterior pair of incisors descends considerably below the level of 
the two remaining pairs. The rat-kangaroo, or Potoroo, as the animals of 
this genus are called, is of small size, being about equal in bulk to the 
common rabbit. The form of the body is compact, and the fore parts but 
little elongated. The small and rounded ears give them a different aspect 
from the rabbit; the toes of the fore foot are more unevenly developed in 
the rat-kangaroo ; the nails are much compressed, solid, and broadest above. 
The rat-kangaroos feed upon the roots of plants, which they scratch up 
with their fore feet. In some species the snout is almost entirely clothed 
with hairs (Hypsiprymnus proper), whilst in others (Bettongia) it is naked; 
and in others again (Potorous) the head is elongated, the tarsi short, the 
tail sparingly clothed with short stiff hairs, and exhibiting a scaly skin; the 
snout is naked. Aypsiprymnus inhabits Australia and Van Diemen’s Land. 
The two extinct genera which follow partake to a certain extent of the 
617 
