xxn 
INTRODUCTION. 
others will yet be discovered when the north and north-western provinces of the country have been more 
diligently explored. 
The third and concluding volume is devoted to the Rodents, Seals, and Bats, and ends with the Cams 
Dingo. These are the only Placental animals inhabiting the land of Australia, and, contrary to what was 
formerly supposed, the Rodents form no inconspicuous feature among the quadrupeds of that country. 
They are very numerous in species, and almost multitudinous in individuals. Every traveller who has 
visited the interior can testify to this fact. If exploration has been his object, the numerous runs and 
tracks of these little animals must have been frequently presented to his notice, — every grassy bed being 
tenanted by its own species of Mus, while all the sand-hills are run over by the same or other species, 
interspersed with the Jerboa-like Hapalotides. The sluggish river-reaches and water-holes of nearly every 
part, from Tasmania through all the southern portions of the continent, have their muddy banks traversed 
by the Hydromys , or Beaver-Rats, as they have been very appropriately called. Even New Zealand, a 
country which it was formerly supposed never had a more highly organized indigenous creature than a bird, 
has its Bats ; it will not be surprising, therefore, that the sister country of Australia should be tenanted by 
numerous species of these Nocturnes ; not only are they individually very plentiful, but many distinct forms 
or genera are there found. The brushes which abound in fruit-bearing fig-trees are frequented by Vampires 
or Pteropi — a form which appears to be mainly confined to the south-eastern and northern portions of the 
country, for I have not yet seen any examples from Tasmania, or Southern or Western Australia. The trees 
in this strange country which bear either fruit or berries are very few. Even the fruit of the stately para- 
sitic Fig is a mere apology for that which we are accustomed to see, and hence but few species of these 
great frugivorous Bats occur in the fauna of Australia. At the same time, the paucity of species is amply 
compensated by the number of individuals ; these, however, are confined to the brushes which stretch along 
the eastern coast. In these solitary forests they teem and hang about in thousands, frequently changing 
their locale when their food becomes scarce or has been entirely cleared off. The species I more parti- 
cularly allude to is the Pteropus poliocephalus. The Cohourg Peninsula and other parts of the north coast 
are also inhabited by a species which, according to Gilbert and Leichardt, is very abundant. A third and 
very fine one frequents Fitzroy Island, lying off the eastern coast. 
The extraordinary Molossus australis is a native of Victoria, and is the sole species of its genus yet dis- 
covered in Australia. The Taphozoi appear to be rock-loving Bats, and the single species as yet discovered 
is from the Peninsula of Cape York. The Scotophili, of which there are several species, are found in all 
parts of the country, from Van Diemen’s Land to the most northern part of the continent. 
The restricted genus Vespertilio is more feebly represented than the last-mentioned form, since only two 
species are known to exist in the country ; these are very generally spread over the southern coast. 
Of the leaf-nosed Rhinolophi I have figured three species — the R. cervinus , from Cape York, the R. auran- 
tius (a very beautiful species) from North-western Australia, and the R. megaphyllus from New South Wales. 
The Nyctophili, or Long-eared Bats, are well represented ; four species, at least, frequenting every part 
of the continent from east to west, and also the island of Tasmania. 
