HALMATURUS RUFICOLLIS. 
Rufous-necked Wallaby. 
Spec. Char.—Halm, ferruginoso-fuscus, albo-irroratus ; nota alba modice distinetà per labrum usque ad oculum ductá ; corpore 
subtus cinerescenti-albo, pilis ad basin cinereis, ad apicem albis. 
Descr —General colour rusty brown pencilled with white; fur on the back grey at the base, succeeded by rusty, broadly 
annulated with white near the extremity, and black at the point; neck and shoulders almost entirely of a bright 
rust-red; muzzle brownish black; on the upper lip a tolerably distinet white mark, which runs backward and 
terminates beneath the eye; apical half of the ear externally blackish ; internal surface of the ear well clothed 
with white hairs, the tip narrowly margined with black; on the chin a pateh of black; throat pure white ; 
under surface of the body grey-white, the hairs being grey at the base and white at the extremity ; arms bright 
rust-colour grizzled with black and rusty white ; hands black; tarsi clothed with white hairs, all of which are 
brownish black at the base; toes covered with black hairs; tail hoary grey with a small pencil of black hairs at 
the tip. 
Male. 
y feet. inches. 
Length from the nose to the extremity of the tail . . . . . . . 5 34 
E راز‎ do wm A EE کی ۹ لا‎ A rm. UR 
$ „ tarsus and toes, including the nail ۰ . . . 2 . . a’ 9 
e „ arm and hand, including the nails . . . . . . . + + d 
» — face from the tip of the nose to the base of the ear . . . Di 
ar EA BB AERO pit وہر یہ‎ a O AN SÉ 
Kangurus ruficollis, Desm. Ency. Meth. Mamm., p. 274. 
rufo-griseus, Desm. Ib., p. 273. 
Macropus vuficollis, Less. Man. de Mamm., p. 226. 
IWarroon of the Aborigines of the Illawarra district. 
Tuis species of Halmaturus has been long known as forming part of the continental collections, particularly those of 
Paris and Leyden; the specimens therein contained have been described under at least two specific names, ruficollis and 
rufo-griseus, and Mr. J. E. Gray believes that the Macropus elegans of Lambert is also referable to the same animal ; an 
opinion in which, however, I cannot concur, as neither the drawing in the * Linnean Transactions,” nor the accompanymg 
description of the fur, which is said to be of “a beautiful silver-grey,” at all agrees with the one here figured, in any 
state of its colouring. The M. elegans is, moreover, said to be very scarce in New South Wales, while the Æ. ruficollis 
is more abundant there than any other: the aboriginal name of the latter is /Parroon, while that of the former is said to 
be Ba-garee; a further argument in favour of their being distinct. 
The undefined markings and variable colouring of the present animal have much puzzled me, and I am led to suspect 
that the Brush Wallaby of Van Diemen’s Land, to which Mr. Waterhouse has given the name of Bernettii, in honour of 
the late estimable Secretary of the Zoological Society, may be identical with it; and I am strengthened in this suppo- 
sition, by having observed that, as we proceed from Van Diemen’s Land northward through the islands of Bass's Straits 
to the continent of Australia, the thick dark-coloured fur gradually gives place to a thinner and rusty red coat similar 
to the figures here given, from examples taken in New South Wales; but should this supposition ultimately prove to be 
unfounded, it must be conceded that the larger species of Wallaby inhabiting Flinders and King’s Islands will be refer- 
able to the present. species, and not to Bennettii, whose habitat would then be confined to Van Diemen’s Land. I may 
here mention, that Peron’s specimens in the Paris Museum were collected on King’s Island, and are the originals from 
which Desmarest took his descriptions of ۵ and rufo-griseus. I hope ere long to receive perfect skeletons of 
this or these animals, as the case may be, from different localities, by which means alone can it be determined whether 
or not they are identical. 
This species was formerly common near Sydney, but is now gradually retiring before the advance of civilized man; 
it is still, however, abundant in the thick Daveysia scrub on the table-land behind Illawarra, particularly on the fine estate 
at Bong-Bong, belonging to Charles Throsby, Esq., to whom I am indebted for many friendly attentions, and for his 
assistance in procuring fine specimens of this animal, 
