XX 
INTRODUCTION. 
the true Macropi ; the hard and stony ridges and rocky crowns of the mountains are frequented by the great 
Osphranters ; precipitous rocks are the home of the Petrogales ; the mangrove-swamps and dense humid 
brushes are congenial to the various Halmaturi ; in the more spiny brigaloe-scrubs the Onycho galea; form 
their runs, and fly before the shouting of the natives when a hunt is the order of the day ; among the grassy 
beds which here and there clothe the districts between the open plains and the mountain-ranges — the park- 
like districts of the country — the Lagorchestes sit in their “forms,” like the Hare in England; and the 
Bettongioe and Hypsiprymni shroud themselves from the prying eye of man and the eagle in their dome- 
shaped grassy nests, which are constructed on any part of the plains, the stony ridges, and occasionally in 
the open glades among the brushes. The species inhabiting New Guinea (the Dendrolagus ursinus and D. 
inustus ) resort to the trees, and, monkey-like, ascend and live among the branches. Of the Filander of the 
same country we know little or nothing. How wonderfully are all these forms adapted to a separate and 
special end and purpose — an end and a purpose which cannot he seen to advantage in any but a compara- 
tively undisturbed country like Australia — a part of the world’s surface still in maiden dress, but the charms 
of which will ere long he ruffled and their true character no longer seen ! Those charms will not long 
survive the intrusion of the stockholder, the farmer, and the miner, each vying with the other to obliterate 
that which is so pleasing to every naturalist ; and fortunate do I consider the circumstances which induced 
me to visit the country while so much of it remained in its primitive state. 
I must revert to the Kangaroos ; for it will he necessary to point out the situations affected by the various 
genera. In the body of the work three species of true Macropi are figured, and others are described, but 
not represented. These are all inhabitants of the southern districts of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land. 
To say that no true Macropus , as the genus is now restricted, will be found in Northern Australia would 
be somewhat unwarrantable ; at the same time, I have never seen an example from thence. The genus 
Osphranter, on the other hand, the members of which, as has been before stated, are always found in rocky 
situations, have their representatives in the north as well as in the south, hut they are not found in Van 
Diemen’s Land. The splendid 0. rufus is an animal of the interior, and frequents the plains more than any 
other species of its genus. At present, the back settlements of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, 
and South Australia are the only countries whence I have seen specimens. The Great Black Wallaroo (0. 
robustus ) forms its numerous runs among the rocks, and on the summits of mountains bordering the rivers 
Mokai and Gwydyr. The 0. Parryi ranges over the rocky districts of the headwaters of the Clarence and 
adjacent rivers, while the 0. antilopinus is as yet only known in the Cobourg Peninsula. 
The smaller Petrogalce differ from all the other Kangaroos, both in the form of their feet and the 
structure of their brushy dangling tails. With the exception of Tasmania, these rock-lovers dwell every- 
where, from north to south, and from east to west. The P. penicillata inhabits New South Wales ; the 
P. wanthopus , South Australia ; the P. lateralis , Western Australia ; the P. concinna and P. brachyotis , the 
north-west coast ; and the P. inornata, the opposite rocky shores of the east. 
The true Wallabies, or Halmaturi , are all brush animals, and are more universally dispersed than any of 
the other members of the entire family. Tasmania is inhabited by two species, New South Wales by at 
least five, South Australia by two or three, and Western Australia by the same number; while the genus is 
represented on the north coast by the H. agilis. It will be clear, then, that the arboreal districts of the 
