INTRODUCTION

sees > mc ains are frequented by the 2reat
Uf ;+ the hard and stony ridges and rocky crowns OF ve non : oa

. true Macropz ; the hard « : ge ee are s onse :

the / of the Petrogales ; the mangrove-swamps and dense humid

ks are the home
Halmaturi ; in the more spiny brigaloe
when a hunt is the order of the day ; among the grassy

pnhranters ; precipitous roc
Osphranters ; preci} |
brushes are congenial to the various

and fly before the shouting of the natives
? o

ir runs ; ain nee le
then districts between the open plains and the mountain-ranges—the park-

beds which here and there clothe the

: eae,
ountry—the Lagorchestes sit their “ forms,” like
: eye of man and the eagle in their dome-

the Hare in England; and the
like districts of the ¢ 7

, ) amcelves tr ‘he PvVIN®
Bettongie and Hypsiprymni shroud themselves from the prying , 4
. . : i fe, ae ‘I ae , es WAP acs aS .
haned grassy nests, which are constructed on any part of the plains, the stony ridges, and occasionally in
shaped grassy nests, : ) ‘

The enecies inhabiting New Guinea (the Dendrolagus ursinus and D.

the open glades among the brushes. The species inhabiting (

cey-like, ascend < ive i@ the branches. Of the Filander of the
inustus) resort to the trees, and, monkey-like, ascend and live among :

same country we know little or nothing. How wonderfully are all these forms adapted to a separate and
C ’ =

special end and purpose—an end and a purpose which cannot be seen to Se in any but a compara-
tively undisturbed country like Australia—a part of the world’s surface still in maiden dress, but the charms
of which will ere long be ruffled and their true character no longer seen! Those charms will not long
survive the intrusion of the stockholder, the farmer, and the miner, each vying with the other to obliterate
that which is so pleasing to every naturalist ; and fortunate do I consider the circumstances which induced

me to visit the country while so much of it remained in its primitive state.

I must revert to the Kangaroos; for it will be necessary to point out the situations affected by the various
genera. In the body of the work three species of true MZacropi are figured, and others are described, but
not represented. ‘These are all inhabitants of the southern districts of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land.
To say that no true Macropus, as the genus is now restricted, will be found in Northern Australia would

be somewhat unwarrantable; at the same time, I have never seen an example from thence. The oenus
3 J §

PS

Osphranter, on the other hand, the members of which, as has been before stated, are always found in rocky

IX

&

situations, have their representatives in the north as well as in the south, but they are not found in Van

i

Diemen’s Land, The splendid O. vufus is an animal of the interior, and frequents the plains more than any

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other species of its genus. At present, the back settlements of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria,

JN.

and South Australia are the only countries whence I have seen specimens. The Great Black Wallaroo (0.

OK

robustus) forms its numerous runs among the rocks, and on the summits of mountains bordering the rivers

J

Mokai and Gwydyr. The O. Parryt ranges over the rocky districts of the headwaters of the Clarence and

R

adjacent rivers, while the O. antilopinus is as yet only known in the Cobourg Peninsula.

UE

The smaller Petrogale differ from all the other Kangaroos, both in the form of their feet and the

structure of their brushy dangling tails. With the exception of Tasmania, these rock-lovers dwell every-
Ep ; The P. pencillata inhabits New South Wales; the
-» anthopus, South Australia : 2 laterali I i

pus, stralia; the P. late, alis, Western Australia; the P,

north-west coast ; and the P.

where, from north to south, and from east to west.

concinna and P. brachyotis, the
inornata, the opposite rocky shores of the east.

:
CT mann Ve Wentes r PT, 5
he true W allabies, ox Halmaturi, are all brush animals,

and are more universally dispersed the f

‘ spersed than any o
the other members of the entire far: iP ; a
| le entire family. Tasmania is mhabited by two species, New South Wales by at
IVC . N S : a
east five, South Australia by two or three, and Western Australi: i
oa ; = s Australia by the same number; while the genus is
‘DIE: MC north coast by the A. goi/jc i

) - agilis. Tt wil lear istri f
eg 1 be clear, then, that the arboreal districts of the