PETROGALE LAT ERALI Ss, Gould.
Striped-sided Rock Wallaby.

Petrogale lateralis, Gould, Mon. of Macropodide, pl.
Macropus (Heteropus) lateralis, Waterh. Nat. Hist. of Mamm., vol. i. p. 172.

Mos-roo-rong, Aborigines of the Perth and Toodyay districts of Western Australia.

Tuis conspicuously marked species is very abundant in all the rocky districts of Sw

an River, particularly
the Toodyay, and I have little doubt that the whole of the line of coast of We

stern Australia will hereafter

be found to be inhabited by it, wherever the character of the country is suitable. Independently of the

difference in its markings and the more woolly texture of its fur, it is a much more diminutive animal than
the P. penicillata; the crania of the two animals also exhibit sufficient differences to satisfy the most
sceptical mind of their being specifically distinct; in their disposition and economy, however, but little
variation is found to exist.

Mr. Gilbert states that “the Petrogale lateralis is only to be met with in the rocky parts of the interior
intersected with caverns. It is a remarkably shy and wary animal, feeding only at night in little open
patches of grass, and never, from all that I have been able to observe, going more than two or three hundred
yards from its rocky retreats. When alarmed, it leaps most extraordinary distances from rock to rock and
point to point with the utmost rapidity. When running along a level surface, its tail is very much curved
upwards like that of a greyhound, and the best way to procure specimens is to walk over the rocks without
shoes, and station yourself within gunshot distance of the principal entrance to their caverns, when, on making
their appearance in the middle of the day for the purpose of sunning themselves, they are easily shot.”

i

Fur shorter and much softer than that of P. penicillata; general colour reddish-brown, passing into

Fan

silvery-grey on the neck and shoulders ; basal half of the tail brownish-grey, the remainder black, with a

avosayo

brush at the end; face greyish-brown ; a distinct white mark from the tip to the base of the ear; a black

C

mark between the ears, extending in a distinct narrow line half-way down the back; ears dark brown,
becoming of a light sandy colour at the base ; a deep rich brown mark extends from behind the shoulders,
down the back of the arm, along the flanks and down the inside of the thigh; this mark is separated from
the general colour of the back by a very distinct stripe of white ; chin, throat, chest and abdomen sandy-

red; under sides of the neck grey; arms light sandy-red, passing into black on the hands; tarsi reddish

s
Kec
=
FA

brown, passing into blackish-brown on the toes.

Male.
feet. inches.
Length from the tip of the nose to the extremity OF tine till , . o & 5
\ ofthetal. . . .°.. - . 2
- ,, tarsus and toes, including the nail ee
. ,, arms and hands, including the nails 43
». 5, face from the tip of the nose to the base of the ear 4
1%

9 39 ear

The first Plate represents the head of the size of life ; the second, reduced figures of the entire animal.