‘ehh more

he Canis
what was
country,
who has
runs and
ed being
? species,
ly every
traversed
ealand, a
in a bird,
anted by
ict forms
Vampires
ns of the
Che trees
ely para-
of these
is amply
tch along
changing
yre parti-
rth coast

hird and

; yet dis-
iscovered

nd in all

only two

R. auran-

th Wales.

very | ar

NG OF DEUr Cri OeNe XXll

This, | am aware, is a very imperfect résumé of the Cheiroptera inhabiting Australia; could I have ren-
dered it more complete, I would have done so; but it must be recollected that seventh-tenths of the country

are yet unexplored.

A mere glance at the globe which stands in every school-room will show how greatly the sea preponderates
over the land of this planet. Like the land, the ocean is tenanted by many remarkable animals, certain
groups of which exist in one hemisphere and are not found in the other; and it is not often that even the
great Cetaceans occur im both. Neither do the Seals: the equatorial region separates them most com-
pletely; that is, no species is common alike to the north and the south. I do not consider that either the
Australian Cetacea or Phocide have been well made out, and this certainly is the part of the mammalian
fauna of that country of which we know the least. I have omitted the former altogether, but it will be seen
that I have figured two of the latter; these constitute two genera (Stenorhynchus and Arctocephalus); they
both inhabit the shores and rocky islands of the southern portion of Australia, while the Dugong (4Zakcore

australis) is, as far as 1am aware, a native of the east coast only.

Whether the Canis Dingo be really indigenous, or has at some very remote period followed Man in his
migrations, is a question on which naturalists are at variance. or my own part, J am inclined to the latter
theory, as being the most philosophic mode of accounting for its presence there. ‘That Man is the latest
visitant to the soil of Australia there can be little doubt ; the country is far too sparsely provided with fruits

and other substances necessary for his existence to favour a contrary hypothesis.

In the following list of the Australian Mammals I shall refer to the volumes in which they are contained
and to the plates on which they are respectively figured, and shall, moreover, give any additional information
I may have acquired respecting them, together with an account of the new species which have been de-

scribed by other writers, but which, from my not having been able to see examples, I have not figured.

Order MARSUPIATA.
Section MONOTREMATA.

Genus OrnirHoruyncuus, Blumend.

1. Ornithorhynchus anatinus : ; : : : : ‘ Wl, Il, IP, tl.
Habitat. New South Wales and Tasmania. Victoria and South Australia ?
Genus Ecuipna, Cu.
2. Echidna hystrix. : : : WO, We 1A,

Habitat. New South Wales, Victoria, the islands in Bass’s Straits. Southern and Western Australia ?

8. Echidna setosa, Cuv. ; : : : é : : : : ‘ : ; : : WoOleekle 3:

Habitat. Van Diemen’s Land.

vi