CLASS I. MAMMALIA: OEDEll 13. MAliSUPlALlA, CTo 
THE GIANT KANGAROO. 
agency of the liind-legs alone, and in these efforts the long, powerful tail is employed in main- 
taining the equilibrium. 
The largest of the species is the Giant Kangaroo, M. major or M. giganteus^ first discovered 
by Captain Cook in 1789, and known to the colonists under the name of Boomer. It is of the 
size of a large sheep, and sometimes weighs one hundred and forty pounds. The period of ges- 
tation is thirty-nine days; the young one, when born, is a little over an inch long, and looks like 
a semi-transparent mouse. It is probably lifted by the mouth of the mother into the marsupium 
and placed near the nipple, which it then instinctively seizes. It remains here till it is able to go 
forth and feed upon grass; to this retreat it returns, and here it lives, till it is capable of taking- 
care of itself. The flesh of the kangaroo is excellent, and the animal is much hunted, alike by 
the colonists and the natives ; in some parts where they were once abundant, the larger species 
are already becoming scarce. The skin is made into leather for shoes and gloves. This species 
is found in Australia ; it Las been repeatedly bred in England. 
The Sooty Kangaroo, M. fuliginoms : this is about the same size as the last species. 
Mr. Waterhouse thinks it will prove to be a variety of the M. major. He says: "The name 
Sooty Kangaroo is most ill-applied to the present animal, since its coloring is any thing but sooty, 
being for the most part of a brownish-yellow, rather bright on th.e sides of the body, and some- 
what suffused with dusky-brown on the middle of the back." 
Vol. L— 85 
