90 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
August, 1922 
for Victoria Park, Brisbane, upon which matter he had 
spoken to other societies, and, after the proposal had been 
supported by various members, it was agreed to write 
the Mayor of the city in favour of the project. 
OUR MARSUPIALS. 
At the June meeting, Mr. H. A. Longman (Director 
of the Queensland Museum) lectured on the Marsupials 
of Australia. He stated that Pelsart, the captain of the 
Dutch East India Co.’s ship Batavia, gave a description 
of the Dama wallaby from the Abrolhos Isles, where his 
ship was wrecked, as long ago as 1629. This was the 
first mention of an Australian marsupial, although this 
particular species was not scientifically described until 
1817. Am Island wallabies were living in the garden of 
the Dutch Governor of Batavia in 1711. 
The lecturer pointed out that extraordinary interest 
attached to the marsupials, owing to the birth of their 
young in an immature condition, the new-born young of 
a large kangaroo being only half an inch in length. Var- 
ious modifications of the pouch were mentioned, including 
the big bag of the kangaroos and allies, the smaller bag, 
opening backwards, of the native bear and the bandi- 
coots, the circular cavity with a muscular rim of the 
wombats, and the shallow depression of the carnivorous 
native catts. The so-called marsupial bones were found 
in both sexes. 
About 150 species of marsupials were known from 
the Australasian region, including representatives from 
the Celebes, in the North-west, and also from 'the Solomon 
Islands, where a cuscus was found. Marsupials could be 
broadly divided into two divisions, herbivorous and non- 
herbivorous, the difference in diet being strikingly illus- 
trated in the dentition. The presence of two smaller inner 
toes, closely united and used as a fur-comb, was a welb 
marked characteristic of the great majority of our species. 
Special mention was made of rare forms, including the 
marsupial moles from Central Australia, the tiny honey- 
eating Tarsipss, the fat-tailed pouched mice, the Queens- 
land wombat, the tree kangaroos of North Queensland, 
the feather-tailed opossum, and the beautiful ring-tailed 
opossumls from the Herbert River district. The so-called 
fiying squirrel, which had a thin membrane between its 
