Family V. Macropopidæ.
(Kangaroos.)
The aspect of the Kangaroos is singularly striking, the anterior parts are light and graceful, while the posterior parts of the body, the hinder limbs, and the tail are very stout and muscular. The hinder feet are greatly lengthened: a naked callous pad runs along the whole sole from the heel to the toes. They are furnished with one very large middle toe, and an outer one, which is of somewhat less size; both of these are armed with large solid nails, slightly curved, convex, and sometimes ridged on the upper surface, and flat beneath; on the inner side of the foot are two other toes, very small and slender, and soldered as it were into one, being covered with a common skin; the bones, however, and the claws are distinct. The fore-feet have five toes each, of which the middle one is the longest; they are armed with large, strong, curved nails.
The attitudes and motions of these animals differ greatly from those of most other quadrupeds. In their ordinary position the body is nearly upright, the head and fore parts being elevated, and leaning a little forwards; the whole resting partly on the hinder limbs, the long soles of which are applied to the ground, and partly on the thick and muscular base of the tail.
When grazing, or proceeding leisurely, the small fore-feet are sometimes applied to the ground, and used in progression: but when the Kangaroo wishes to proceed rapidly, he uses
