D 
that surround the coast of tropical Queensland, there Ls a mine of 
undiscovered wealth to the student. Fishes of all shapes, some most 
beautiful, elegant and graceful, others on the contrary, ugly, ferocious 
—absolutely infernal looking. Their varieties are exceedingly 
numerous ; their individual numbers legion. 
THE MAMMALIA OP QUEENSLAND. 
It is in this bmneh of natural history that the island continent, Aus¬ 
tralia, shows its most distinctive peculiarities. To everyone it is 
known as the land of the kangaroo, and to the student as the home of 
the marsupialia. Every immigrant, before his arHval even, lias seen 
a picture of a kangaroo with the young one peeping out of the abdo¬ 
minal pouch, and so is interested in such a peculiar animal, but the 
student recognises that when in Queensland he is in the centre of 
as strange a group of animals as he could possibly find; a group which 
at one time existed over Europe, Asia, and America, but which now, 
with one or two exceptions, is only to be found in this island continent. 
A group of which* tlm external mai'supium or pouch is only one pecu- 
.liarity; a group which has developed species analagons to the placental 
flesh-eaters, gmss-eaters, and insect-eaters, and yet they are wholly 
different; a group which is as ranch at home upon the ground and in 
the burrow as it is upon the treo-tops or even in the air ; a group 
which is an animal world of its own, showing in the species even now 
living, a distinct development through the monotremes from the 
reptiles. Fossil remains already discovered show that in the ages of 
long ago there were far more species then in existence, and some of 
these were of enormous size, taking the place of the gigantic ancient 
pachyderms of tlie old world, but still retaining the peculiar shape 
and anatomy of the mai*supials. It is noteworthy that no fossil re- 
main.s of large placental carnivora have been discovered such as would 
account for the disappearance of so many species, The settler in 
Queensland need fear no lions, tigers, bears, or wolves, for no animal 
exists larger than the dingo or wild dog, that can do harm to his 
flocks and hei'ds. In Tasmania there are two specimens of cai'nivorous 
marsupials, which for fei'ocity and strength equal any animal of their 
size among the placentals, but they do not exist in tliis colony at the 
present day. Thoi’o lire, howevci', flesh-eating marsupials winch can 
and do make considerable havoc among the poultry yards of the 
countiy settler; tliese animals, commonly called “ native cats,” take 
the place and somewhat the shape of the weasel or stoat of the old 
world. Other animals of the tribe of phalangers commonly called 
“ opossums,” are often very destructive to the gardens and orchards; 
but the greatest damage has been done to the farming and gi-azing 
industry by the many vaiious species of the macropodidi© or kangaroo 
tribe. Australia in general, and Queensland in particular, oilers an 
anomaly in the progress of settlomout by mankind of uncivilised 
countries, insomuch that the wild herbivorous animals have largely 
increased since the advent of the European race and not decreased. 
Especially has this been the case with the kangaroo tidbo, for evidentlv 
