KANGAROOS. 
107 
carnivorous both in structure and habits^ the American Opos- 
sums, Dasyures or Native Cats, and Bandicoots. 
The geographical distribution of this order is remarkable, two 
families out of eight being found in South America, while all 
the rest are now confined to the Australian region. 
The Kangaroo group, or Macropodidce (cases 69 and 69*), 
includes herbivorous animals with disproportionately large hind- 
limbs and long powerful tails, both of which they use in leaping 
or in assuming an erect position, putting their short fore-feet 
Fig-. 58. 
Parry’s Wallaby {Macropus parryi). 
to the ground only when feeding or walking. Their hind-feet 
are of very peculiar structure, the great mass of the foot being- 
made up of the much- developed fourth toe, while the first toe, 
corresponding to our great toe, is entirely absent ; and the 
second and third, although long, are so slender and weak as to 
be quite useless, and bound up in a common skin to the nails. 
