HALMATURUS DERBIANUS, 
Derby’s Wallaby. 
Halmaturus DerUanus, Gray in Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. i. new ser. p. 583 — Gould, Mon. of Macropodidse, pi. 
— Gray, List of Spec, of Mamm. in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 91. 
Macropus (Halmaturus') DerUanus, Waterh. in Jard. Nat. Lib. Marsupialia, p. 234, pi. 21.— Ib. Nat. Hist, of 
Mamm., vol. i. p. 154. 
Halmaturus Houtmanni, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., pt. xii. p, 31 ?. — Waterh. Nat. Hist, of Mamm., vol. i. p. 156 ?. 
Eugenii, Less. Man. de Mamm., p. 227 ?. 
Emilia, Gray, List of Spec, of Mamm. in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 90 ?. 
Bangap, Aborigines of Perth in Western Australia. 
Although the name of DerUanus is retained for this small species of Halmaturus, 1 am by no means certain 
that it has any claims to priority; in all probability the older name oi Eugenii had reference to this animal ; 
Mr. Waterhouse also is of opinion that an animal which I have called Houtmanni is merely a variety of the 
same species. Before me at this moment, while writing the present article, is my type specimen of Hout- 
manni from Wallaby Island, Houtmann’s Abrolhos, and two specimens of DerUanus from Garden Island 
lying about five miles off the mouth of Swan River ; now the former certainly differs from the latter in being 
of a darker colour, in having less rufous on the shoulders and rump, and in having stouter legs and feet ; 
notwithstanding I bow to Mr. Waterhouse’s opinion, and regard them as local varieties of one and the same 
species ; and I incline to do so the more readily from feeling convinced, after having for a series of years 
paid considerable attention to these and other nearly allied species, that there is an animal of this family 
peculiar to the scrubby islands lying off the southern and western coasts of Australia, and one only, and that 
that one is the species under consideration, whatever its specific name may be. Up to the present time I 
have never seen examples from the mainland, the brushes of which lying between the mountain ranges and 
the coast are all tenanted by their own peculiar species, such as Thetidis, Dama, &c., whilst the Brigaloe 
brush of the interior has also an animal of this section peculiar to it — the H. dorsalis. The H. DerUanus, 
then, inhabits all the islands lying off the west coast, and extends round to those of the south-west as far as 
Kangaroo Island In Spencer’s Gulf, where it is abundant. 
Like many others of the small Wallabies, the present species loves to dwell among the densest under- 
wood : hence the almost impenetrable scrub of dwarf Eucalypti, which covers nearly the whole of Kangaroo 
Island, will always afford it a secure asylum, from which in all probability It will never be extirpated, — the 
vegetation being too green and humid to be burnt, and the land too poor to render it worth the expense of 
clearing. It is very abundant in the ravines and gullies, through which it makes innumerable runs ; and 
such is the dense nature of the vegetation, that nothing larger than a dog can follow it ; still it is taken by 
men residing on the island in the greatest abundance, both for the sake of its skin and its flesh : they 
procure it principally by snares, a simple noose placed on the outskirts of the brush ; but they also shoot 
it when it appears on the open glades at night. 
Considerable difference exists in this, as well as in the other allied species, in the colour of the hair, which 
varies very much, not only in the intensity of its hue, but also in being much redder in some specimens than 
in others. 
Fur long and moderately soft ; face grizzled grey, reddish and dark brown ; on the upper lip a huffy-white 
mark which extends backwarks under the eye, and blends with the general colour of the face ; back of the 
neck, shoulders and arms rufous ; a blackish mark commences at the occiput, and continues downwards 
until it becomes lost in the colouring of the back, which is grizzled black and dull white, caused by the 
middle portion of each hair being dull white, and the tips black, the base of all the fur being deep-blue 
grey ; rump, base of the tail, hind legs and tarsi grizzled with rufous and black, the former colour pre- 
dominating ; throat, chest and all the under surface buffy white ; arms the same as the tarsi, but rather 
darker ; under side of the tail buff. 
Male. 
feet, inches. 
Length from the nose to the extremity of the tail 3 1 
„ of tail 1 IT 
„ „ tarsus and toes, including the nail 6 
„ „ arm and hand, including the nail 4T 
„ „ face from the tip of the nose to the base of the ear ... 4 t 
One of the accompanying Plates represents the head and fore quarters of the natural size, the other the 
entire animal much reduced. 
