OSPHRANTER ROBUSTUS, Goud.
Black Wallaroo.

 

Heap or A Mae AND oF A FEMALE, LIFE-SIZE.

Ir there be any one of the Great Kangaroos the discovery of which afforded me more
pleasure than another durmg my sojourn in Australia, it is the Great Black Wallaroo of
the mountain-districts of New South Wales. Surprising, indeed, it was that so large and
conspicuous an animal had not been previously made known; and still more surprising is
the fact that, from the period of my visit m 1838-39 to the present time, 1863, few if
any skins of the animal have been sent to Europe. Still I can assure my readers that
the existence of the Black Wallaroo is not a myth; for specimens of both sexes grace the
collections at the British Museum and at Leyden. Like the 0. antilopinus, the O. robustus
becomes dangerous both to man and dogs when the rocky and sterile mountain elevations
it frequents are traversed ; for, like the Ibex of the mountain-ranges of the northern
hemisphere, the old males will make a determined stand when assaulted and escape is
impossible.

As is the case with the sexes of all the other members of this section of the Macropo-
dide, the male and female of O. robustus differ considerably in size, the latter being much

smaller and weaker than the former.

 

As the districts mhabited by this fine species are fully described in the succeeding pages,
it is unnecessary to mention them here.
A glance at the accompanying illustration, which represents a head of each sex of the

size of life, will furnish a just conception of the features of these animals.

ere “ a aS aa eee ORE ed