6 
the destruction of the dingo, and of the eagles by the settlers, and the 
decrease of the aboriginal natives destroyed the Manco of nature so 
much that many parts of this colony became ovemin with these 
grass-eating marsupials. They were as a plague in the land, to be 
seen by hundreds and thousands, eating out the grass wliich otherwise 
could support the more useful but less interesting sheep and cattle, 
therefore legislative intei-ference was called for, and a bonus per scalp 
given for their destruction. Since the passing of this Act, only five 
years ago, no less than 6,000,000 scalps have been paid for. But this 
legislative Act alone would not have annihilated the plague, nature 
even stepped in with her aid, for the animals increased to such num¬ 
bers they caused their mutual destruction, insomuch that they com¬ 
pletely devoured every blade of grass in districts as large cveu as the 
whole area of England; then drouglit super\'ening their destruction 
was completed. Thus it is that districts which were overrun and 
useless are now again restored to abundance of grass and to occupation 
by domestic herds. 
Ihe only animals natural to Australia that are not marsupials are 
the wild dog, or dingo, as lie Ls popularly called, the rodents, or rat- 
tribe, and the bats, of which the flying fox, a large fruit-eating species, 
is the best kno'vra. 
The young of the marsupials are all boru in the usual way, but in a 
very immature state, that of the great kangaroo being not over one 
inch in length. They never have any placental connection witli tlieir 
dam. Immediately upon birth they are transferred to the pouch, and 
m a mysterious way the apparently minute lump of flesh, wliich lias 
no power of voluntaiy movement, is attached to the teat, from which 
the little creature is never separated until fully developed. The above 
is a scientific fact demonstiable by any anatomist. Nevertheless bush 
residents unacquainted with anatomy strictly affirm that tlie young 
one is born on the nipple. The larger kangaroos have only one 
young at a time, but some of the smaller genera sometimes have two 
in the pouch, generally differing in ages. 
THE MAOEOPODID^ OR KANGAROOS. 
Ever since the sailors of the veteran navigator, Captain Cook 
announced to him that they had seen “ the devil,in the shape of an 
animal as tall as a man, and that stood upn'ght and hopped away on 
its hind legs only, has the kangaroo been associated in the popular 
mind with Australia, so without reference to scientific classifieation I 
pander to the popular fancy, and place the well-known animal first in 
the list for description. Necessity for curtailing space compels me to 
give but a biief account of the different families of our fauna, men¬ 
tioning only by name one or two of the best known or peculiar species 
typical of the family, and leaving entirely alone that most interesting 
branch of natural history—the development of one species into 
another. A study which if pursued among the raarsupialia and in 
conjunction with fossil discoveries of recent date will repay any 
amount of trouble, for it is a marvellous book of wondrous surprises. 
