ee LAGORCHESTEs FASCIATUS. Banded Hare-Kangaroo. Kangarus fasciatus, Péron et Lesueur, Voy. aux Terr. Aust, tom. i. | Halmaturus elegans, Cuv. Reégne Anim., tom. i. p. 187. Bettongia fasciata, Gould, Mon. of Macropodide, pl. Lagorchestes albipits, Gould, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. Macropus (Lagorchestes) fasciatus, Waterh. . 114. pl. 27 —Desm. Mamm., part i. Daan , Vol. x. 1849, mee Nat. Hist. of Mamm., vol. i. Dace I pevieve that this beautiful species 1s noticed for the first time in the Voyage of the celebr : | ated Dampier, but MM. Peron and Lesueur are undoubtedly entitled to the ¢ } redit of making it known to science. It was during their voyage to the ‘ Terres Australes,” and while exploring the western coasts of Australia, that ands, where it was found among the impenetrable low thickets formed of a species of Mimosa; “from these bushes,” says MM. Péron aml Lesueur, “it galleries communicating one with another, in which it takes refuge in time of danger. The females bring forth but one young one at they met with it on Dirk Hartogs and the neighbouring is! cuts away the lower branches and spines so as to form a time. Although These little Kangaroos, like all feeble animals which have neither the power of attack nor of defence, are extremely timid. abundant on the islands, none were to be found on the main land. The slightest noise caused them to take flight to the thick brushwood in which their galleries are constructed, and where it is impossible to pursue them; hence, although very common, they are difficult to procure.” Although the above-mentioned naturalists were unable to discover the animal on the main land, the researches of more recent travellers, aided by the facilities afforded by the colonization of the country, have shown that it is not only abundant there, but enjoys a most extensive range. Mr. Gilbert found it far in the interior of the Swan River Colony, and Mr. Eyre, one of the most indefatigable of Australian explorers, states that he frequently observed it in the Murray Scrub of South Australia; here then we have a range of many thousand square miles of country as the known habitat of this beautiful species, and we may consequently infer, that every intermediate district between Southern and Western Australia favourable to its habits is tenanted by it. Mr. Gilbert states that it is called Marnine by the natives of the interior of Western Australia, and is only to be found in densely thick scrubs, on flats and on the edges of swamps, where the small brush J/e/aleuca grows so thickly, that it is almost impossible for a man to force his way through ; its runs being under this, the animal escapes even the quick eye of a native. The only possible means of obtaining it is by having a number of natives to clear the spot, and two or three with dogs and guns to watch for it. During an excursion into the interior Mr. Gilbert was so fortunate as to cross one of its haunts, but so dense was the vegetation, that after three days of severe toil, ae a able to secure a single ee he adds, that it appears to run in company with the Daria, whieh being more EEDEHS mee ae y presenting themselves and disappointing him, the vegetation being much Oe thick te distinguis y ine o from the other until after they had been shot. The natives are in the habit of horems these thickets at intervals of three years, and by this means destroy very great numbers 5 and this, in fact, a to - the only plan they could very well adopt for one both the Alena ag - Dee treading down an open space, as is done at King George’s Sound, will not answer here: S|} : procured was a male, and weighed three pounds and Ce | ce : From the period of MM. Péron and Lesueur’s Voyage in Lede ae a . nue a ‘ German naturalist, visited Western Australia, no example of this ie ee oe onl eee 3 Specimens from which the description published by the former oN ae hs ‘ ee ice eee collection of the ‘Jardin des Plantes” at Paris, but from long on aes i eee ee Nee muzzles having in the course of time become denuded of hair, ad a th generically and specifically was induced to believe that the animal brought home by M. Priess was both g 5 ) - C d tl € re tl Vy I ecel V od sp 3 1 nen to the genus Lag orcn l€ 3 an¢ g ave 1 € : ame oO vat rh yuse, V 10, a c L, albipilis; this error has been corrected by Mr.