Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/874

840 and defend themselves, sometimes killing a dog by grasping it in their fore paws, and inflicting terrible wounds with the sharp claws of their powerful hind legs, sustaining themselves meanwhile upon the tail. The great majority are inhabitants of Australia and Tasmania, forming one of the most prominent and characteristic features of the fauna of these lands, and in the scenery of the country, as well as the economy of nature, performing the part of the deer and antelopes of other parts of the world, which are entirely wanting in Australia. They were very important sources of food-supply to the natives, and are hunted by the colonists, both for sport and with a view to their destruc tion, on account of the damage they naturally do in con suming the grass, now required for feeding cattle and sheep. Notwithstanding this, they have in some districts increased in numbers, owing to the suppression of their former enemies, the aborigines and the dingo or native dog. A few species are found in New Guinea and the adjacent islands, which belong, in the zoological sense, to the Australian province, beyond the bounds of which none have been found either existing or in a fossil state. The Macropodidse are divided into two well-marked sections (1) the true kangaroos (Macropodinas), and (2) a group consisting of smaller animals, commonly called rat-kangaroos, or (improperly) " kangaroo-rats," or sometimes potoroos. I. In the Macropodinae, (see fig. 3) the cutting edges of the upper incisors are nearly level, or the first pair but slightly longer than the others. The canines are rudimentary and often wanting. The pre- molars are usually not longer (from before backwards) than the true molars, and less compressed than in the next section. The crowns of the molars have always two prominent transverse ridges. The fore limbs are small with subequal toes, armed with strong, mode- Tcitely long, curved claws. Hind limbs very long and strongly made. Head small, with more or less elongated muzzle. Ears generally rather long and ovate. Upwards of thirty species of this group have been described, and many attempts have been made to subdivide it into smaller groups or genera for the convenience of arrangement and description, but these have generally been based upon such trivial characters that it is preferable to speak of most of them as sections of the genus Mncropus, reserving generic rank only to two forms somewhat aberrant both in structure and geographical distribution. Accord ing to this arrangement the genera will be as follows : 1. Mocropus, Shaw, divided into the following sections or sub- genera. A. Macropus proper, of which the type is M. giganteus, spoken of at the beginning of this article as having been discovered in 1770 by the first English explorers of Australia. It is the common great kangaroo, called "boomer," "forrester," or "old man " by the colonists, and frequents the open grassy plains of the greater part of eastern Australia and Tasmania. Some closely allied species or perhaps local varieties, H. ocydromus, M. fuliginosus, and M. melanops, are found in southern and western Australia. B. Os- pkranter, Gould, distinguished from the above by the naked muffle, includes some very large and handsome species, which principally dwell in rocky mountain ranges, as the great red kangaroo, M. rufus, M. antilopinus, and M. robustus. C. Halmaturus, F. Cuv. The kangaroos of this section have also ths muffle naked, but they are rather smaller species, frequenters of forests and dense impenetrable brushes and scrubs, and hence often called brush kangaroos, though a native name "wallaby" is now generally applied to them. There are many species, of which M. bennettii, M. ruficollis, M. ualabatus, M. dorsalis, M. agilis, M. derbianus, M. thet.idis, M. billardieri are the best known. M. brachyurus is remarkable for its comparatively short and slender tail and small ears. The earliest known species of kangaroo, referred to before, M. brunii (Schreber), may perhaps belong to this section. Several examples were seen by Bruyn in 1711 living in captivity in the garden of the Dutch governor of Batavia, and described and figured in the account of his travels (Rcizcn over Moskovie, &c. ) under the name of " Filander." It was quite lost sight of, and its name even transferred by S. Miiller to another species (now known as Dorcopsis mulleri, Schlegel) until rediscovered in 1865 by Rosenberg, who sent a series of specimens to the Leyden Museum from the islands of Aru and Great Key, thus determining its true habitat. Quite recently three other species of true kangaroo have been discovered out of Australia : M. pnpuanus, Peters, from the eastern extremity of New Guinea, near Yule Island; M.crassipes, Pierson-Ramsay, from near Port Moresby ; and M. browni, Pierson-Ramsay, from New Ireland. D. Onychoyalca, Gould, with a hairy muffle and long and slender tail, furnished with a horny nail-like organ at the apex. M, unguifer, M. fr&natus, and M. lunatus. E. Lagorchcstcs, Gould, hare-kangaroos, a group of small hare-like animals, great leapers and swift runners, which mostly affect the open grassy ridges, parti cularly those of a stony character, sleeping in forms or seats like the common hare. Their limbs are comparatively small, their claws sharp and slender, and their muffle clothed with velvet-like hairs. M. fasciatus, M. leporoides, M. hirsutus, M. conspidllatus, &c. F. Petrogale, Gray. These differ from, all the others in having the tail cylindrical and bushy towards the apex instead of tapering. The muffle is naked, the hind foot comparatively short and stout, and densely clothed with coarse hairs, the nails short. These are the "rock kangaroos," making their retreats in caverns and crevices, leaping with surprising agility from one narrow ledge to another, and browsing upon the scanty herbage that the neighbour hood of such situations affords. M. xanthopus, M. penicillatus, M. latcralis, M. concinnus, M. brachyotus, M. inornatus, &c. 2. Dcndrolagus, Sal. Miiller. A genus formed for the reception of two species, D. ursinus and D. inustus, commonly known as tree kangaroos," both inhabitants of New Guinea, and which differ greatly from all the foregoing in being chiefly arboreal in their habits, climbing with facility among the branches of large trees, and feeding on the bark, leaves, and fruit. In accordance with this habit their hinder limbs are comparatively shorter than in the true kangaroos, and their fore limbs are longer and more robust, and have very strong curved and pointed claws. These differ from all the preceding, and agree with the next genus, in some details of the structure of the molar teeth, and in the circumstance that the fur of the back of the neck is directed forwards or in a reverse position to that of the remainder of the coat. 3. Dorcopsis, S. Miiller. Of this genus two species are at pre sent known, both from New Guinea, D. mulleri, and another lately discovei ed by D Albertis, D. luctuosa. . In some respects they re semble the last, but they differ from them and all the other Macropo- dinse, and agree with the next section, in the great size and peculiar form of the premolar teeth. II. The second section or sub-family, the Hypsiprymninse (see fig. 4), have the first upper incisor narrow, curved, and much exceed ing the others in length. Upper canines always persistent, flattened, blunt, and slightly curved. Premolars of both jaws always with large, simple, compressed crowns, with a nearly straight or slightly FlO. 4. Skull and teeth of Gray s Rat Kangaroo (Bettongia grayii). c, upper canine tooth. The other letters as in fig. 3. concave free cutting edge, both outer and inner surfaces usually marked, by a series of parallel, vertical grooves and ridges. Molars with quadrate crowns, having a blunt, conical cusp at each corner, the fourth notably smaller than the third, sometimes rudimentary or absent. Fore feet narrow; three middle toes considerably ex ceeding the first and fifth in length ; their claws long, compressed, and but slightly curved. Hind feet as in Macropus. Tail long, sometimes partially prehensile, being used for carrying bundles of grass with which they build their nests. The potoroos or rat-kangaroos are all small animals, none of them exceeding a common rabbit in size. They inhabit Australia and Tasmania, are nocturnal, and feed on the leaves of various kinds of grasses and other plants, as well as roots and bulbs, which they dig up with their fore paws. About ten species are known, present ing a considerable range of diversity in minor characters, and admitting of being grouped in four principal sections, which may perhaps be allowed the rank of genera. These are 1. Hypsiprymnus, Illiger. Head long and slender. Auditory bullse somewhat inflated. Ridges on premolars few and perpen dicular. Large palatine foramina. Tarsus short. Muffle naked. h, murinus. If. apicalis, If. gilbcrti, H. platyops. 2. Bettongia, Gray. Head comparatively short and broad. Auditory bullse much inflated. Tarsus long. Large palatine fora mina. Ridges on premolars numerous and oblique. Muffle naked. B. penicillatus, B. cuniculus, B. gaimardii, B. ogilbyi, B. grayii, B. campcstris, &c. 3. JEpyprymnus, Garrod. Head short and broad. Auditory bullre not inflated. No palatine foramina. Tarsus long. Muffle hairy. JE. rufesccns.