DORCOPSIS BRUNI.
Filander.

Filander, Le Brun, Voy. par Muscovie, en Perse, et aux Ind. Orient., tom. i. p. 347. £. 2 716 .
We Golly! 9-45) le at py 49, ) - 1p. 047.1. 213. 1718.—Ib. Edition of
Didelphis Brunti, Schreb. Saug., tom. ii. p. 551. pl. 153.—Gmel. Edit. of Linn Syst. Nat ; a
Gen. Zool., vol. 1. p. 480.—Quoy et Gaim. Voy. de l’Astrolabe Tae - : ie eee
——— Asiatica, Pall. Act. Acad. Sci. Petrop. 1777, pt. 2. p. 229. tab. 9. f , a os
Javan Opossum, Penn. Hist. of Quad., p. 305. ,
Halmaturus Bruni, Il. Prod. Syst. Mamm. et Ay., p. 80.
Macropus veterum, Less. Man. de Mamm., p. 227.

os, 4
See

——— Bruni, Fischer, Syn. Mamm., p. 283.
Hypsiprymnus Brunt, Mill. Zoogd. der Indesch. Archipel., pt. 4. pl. 21; head pl. 22. fic. 3
= > >) . ame g.

and 8, and pl. 24. fig. 7; bones of hind leg, pl. 24. figs. 8, 9.
Halmaturus Asvaticus, Gray, List of Mamm. in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 91.

; skull, pl. 23. figs. 7

Macropus Brunu, Waterh. Nat. Hist. of Mamm., vol. i. p. 180.
Dorcopsis Bruni, Mill. Verh. Zool. Mamm., p. 131. pl. 21.—Sclater in Journ. of Pr

. oc. of Linn. Soc., Zoology,
vol. ii. p. 154. =

 

Berye desirous of rendering my account of the Kangaroos as perfect as possible, I have considered it
advisable to figure and describe in this work the species of that group of animals inhabiting New Guinea, in
addition to those found in Australia and Van Diemen’s Land. Independently of the two species of Dendro-
lagus, this contiguous island presents us with another animal belonging to the same family, which is rendered
especially remarkable from the circumstance of its being the earliest known species of this singular group of

quadrupeds ; its discovery dating as far back as 1711, long before the geographical limits of Australia had

 

been ascertained, or its productions become known to us. But, although so long a time—nearly one

 

hundred and fifty years—has elapsed since its discovery, little or nothing is known of its habits and
economy, and specimens are still rarely to be found in our own museums or those of the Continent. In
his work on ‘The Natural History of the Mammalia,” Mr. Waterhouse states :—

«This singular animal is the first of the Kangaroo family with which naturalists became acquainted, being
imperfectly described, but better figured, as early as the year 1711, by Le Brun ; its characters were sub-
sequently more carefully pointed out by Pallas, and it is upon the accounts of these two authors that all the
various descriptions and notices in systematic works, chiefly under the specific names of Filander and Brunia,
have been founded until a comparatively recent period. Several specimens of the Filander were seen, ina
state of captivity, at Batavia by Le Brun; these, however, must have been transported from New Guinea,
whence it has since been procured during the French expedition of the Astrolabe, and still more recently
by the naturalists sent out by the Dutch Government, to whom we are indebted for many important
additions to our knowledge of the natural-history productions of the islands of the Indian Archipelago.
{ Museum, and enables me to

”

One of the specimens of this last-mentioned expedition is now in the British
give an original description.”
The following quaint note is a translation of the passage referring
par Muscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales,” published in 1720 :—
“Being at the country-house of iy general in Batavia, I there saw ee ree
Filander, and which is something very singular. There were several of them pein re about with ie
This animal, which I have

rabbits, and had their burrows under a little hill surrounded by a balustrade. .
front, and is nearly of the size and

to this animal in Le Brun’s ‘“ Voyage

tain animal which is called

i S : rer thé se of the
represented in the plate, has the hind-legs much longer than those of ee
texture of hair of a large Hare 8 it has a pointed tail, and the head approaches that 7 oe : is

i t rT a bag MIC > young
it 1 1 pening F sJlv in the form of a bag, in which the y g
singular thing about it 1s, that it has an opening under the belly 7 . oa

7 i rably large : often see the head an < 5
enter and go out again even when they are tolerably large:

y do not appear to keep at the

one may 3
thi bottom of the bag, because she
of this bag; but when the mother runs, the
Jerks strongly in running.” -
ee ee. oe ee ene
The following is Mr. Waterhouse’s description of the speci : ve

‘ late M. ‘Temminck, of Leyden:
ather behind the shoulders,

n in the British Museum, which was

formerly in my own possession, I having received it from the ; 2

: ¢ . ‘atino from a point r

fe. : : mie ea eatnne has the fun Racmauine— ino Imam, i

‘The Filander, like the Tree-Kangaroos, be be ae : The fur 1s remarkably short, rather soft,
and the hair on the neck directed forwards as In those animals. 1e Se ,

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