SS ee oy aa ae” gaa oho POAT d rsanne aoa AO! — il e ic annaas VISE ALE 5 £3 CLES! ¥ x1 re 5: ASA ARAMA AT AO APT ae aaaacnos ® 0 . a) 1 yey a : cannot be heard at a greater distance than thirty or forty yards. Mr. Bass chased one of these animals, lifted it off the ground and laid it along his arm, as if carrying a child. It made no noise, nor any effort struge S ace was placid and undisturbed, and it exhibited no discom- to escape, not even a struggle. Its countenance was ple ‘ e j ile walk it was fr sntly shifted from arm to arm, and sometimes posure, although in the course of a mile walk it was frequently Se rome arm — when, however, he proceeded to secure it by tying its legs, while he left it to cut . ‘t became irritated, whizzed, kicked and scratched most furiously, and snapped laid over the shoulder ; a specimen of a new wood, NEE ee | ee off a piece from the elbow of Mr. Bass’s jacket with its powerful incisors. Its temper ‘oun now ruffled, it remained implacable all the way to the boat, ceasing to kick and struggle only ee quite eshomstbedl Mr. G. Bennett in his ‘ Wanderings,” speaking of one of these aniinals, kept in a state of domestication at Been in the Tumat country, states that ‘it would remain in its habitation till dark; it would then come out and seek for the milk-vessels, and should none be uncovered, it would contrive to get off the covers and bathe itself in the milk, drinking at the same time. It would also enter the little vegetable garden attached to the station in search of lettuces, for which it evinced much partiality. If none could be found, it would gnaw the cabbage stalks, without touching the leaves. Although this animal IS ea numerous in the more distant parts of the colony, it is difficult to procure from the great depth CS which it burrows.” «The specimen dissected by Sir Everard Home,” says Mr. Waterhouse, ‘and which was brought from one of the islands in Bass’s Straits by Mr. Brown, the eminent botanist, lived as a domestic pet in the house of Mr. Clift for two years. This animal was a male, measured two feet and two inches in length, and weighed about twenty pounds. The observations made by Sir Everard Home on the habits of this animal whilst in confinement, correspond pretty closely with those already given. ‘It burrowed in the ground whenever it had an opportunity, and covered itself in the earth with surprising quickness ; it was very quiet during the day, but constantly in motion in the night; was very sensible to cold ae all kinds of vegetables, but was particularly fond of new hay, which it ate stalk by stalk, taking it into its mouth, like a Beaver, by small bits at a time. It was not wanting in intelligence, and appeared attached to those to whom it was accustomed, and who were kind to it. When it saw them it would put up its fore paws on their knees, and when taken up would sleep in the lap. It allowed children to pull and carry it about, and when it bit them, it did not appear to do it in anger or with violence.’ ” This animal, like almost every other of the Australian quadrupeds, is eaten by the natives, but as an article of food it must give place to the Kangaroo and its affines. I partook of it myself, but always found its flesh tough, with a musky flavour, and not altogether agreeable. Mr. Bass remarks that the size of the two sexes is nearly the same, but that the female is somewhat the heavier, and such appears to be the case; the weight, whenever ascertained, being always in favour of the female. In Mr. Gunn’s paper on the Mammals indigenous to Tasmania, published in the “ Proceedings of the “The Wombats of Tasmania differ much in colour im different localities, some being dirty black, and others of a silvery grey. Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land,” above referred to, that gentleman states that - They are found on the tops of the mountains, and thence to the sea-coasts; and are very numerous in some localities, 234 having been killed in less than a year upon a farm, at present occupied by me, on the St. Patrick’s River.” For the details of the internal structure of this curious animal, I must refer my readers to the ‘“ Lecons > d’Anatomie Comparee ” of the celebrated Cuvier, and to the writings of our equally well-known countrymen, Sir Everard Home, in the “ Philosophical Transactions” for 1808, and Professor Owen, in the “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society” for 1836. The original memoir of the latter author, on Phascolomys latifrons, will be found in the “Proceedings” of the same Society for 1845. The general hue of the tolerably long and very coarse fur of this animal is grey-brown; next the skin, the hairs of the ordinary fur of the upper surface are dusky brown, with the exposed portion of a dirty white, but the longer and coarser hairs are black at the point ; on the under surface the hairs are dusky at the root, and dirty white for the remainder of their length, the general hue being paler than that of the upper surface; the muffle is naked and black ; the small poimted ears are well clothed with hairs ; the legs are short and strong, and the feet broad, naked beneath, and covered with minute, round, fleshy tubercles ; the claws are large; those of the fore feet solid, or not concave beneath, slightly curved and depressed ; those of the hind feet are curved, slightly compressed, and concave beneath; the hairs of the moustaches are numerous, strong and black, as are also some long bristly hairs which spring from the cheeks; the tail is a mere tubercle, and is hidden by the fur. : “The skeleton,” says Mr. Waterhouse, “presents certain peculiarities well worthy of attention: number of its ribs, and consequently of its dorsal vertebra, is unusually | the arge, being fifteen, whilst twelve the body of the atlas vertebra remains permanently cartilaginous ; the humerus, besides having the inner condyle perforated, h or thirteen are usually found in the Marsupialia ; as an opening between the condyles ; and the patella, or knee-bone, is wanting.” The Plates represent the head of the natural size, and the entire animal considerably reduced.