Photo by J. T. Newman] [Berkhamsted.
BENNETT'S WALLABY AND THE GREAT GREY KANGAROO.
This photograph illustrates the relative sizes of these two species.
It is interesting to note that within the limits of this isolated and anciently founded marsupial order we have an epitome, as it were, of many of the more important groups of an equivalent classificatory value that are included among the higher mammalia previously described. In this relationship we find in the so-called Tasmanian Wolf, the Tasmanian Devil, and the "Native Cats" carnivorous and eminently predatory forms whose habits and general conformation are immediately comparable to those of the typical Carnivora. The Bandicoots, Banded Ant-eater, and Phascogales recall in a similar manner the higher Insectivora. In the tree-frequenting Opossums and Phalangers the external likeness and conformity in habits to the arboreal rodents is notably apparent, several of the species, moreover, possessing a parachute-like flying-membrane essentially identical with that which is found in the typical Flying-squirrels. An example in which the ground-frequenting or burrowing rodents are closely approached is furnished by the Australian Wombat, an animal which may be appropriately likened to an overgrown and lethargic Marmot. In this form, moreover, the rodent-like character of the dentition is especially noteworthy. The higher grass-eating mammals find their counterparts in the family group of the Kangaroos, in which, in addition to their essentially herbivorous habits, the contour of the head and neck, together with the expressive eyes and large expanding ears, are wonderfully suggestive of the various members of the Deer Family. The Cuscuses of New Guinea and the adjacent islands, both in form and habits, somewhat resemble their geographical neighbours, the Lorises, belonging to the Lemur Tribe, compared with which higher mammals, however, they possess the advantage of an eminently serviceable prehensile tail. The Australian Koala, or so-called "Native Bear," has been commonly compared by zoologists with the Edentate Sloths; while in the most recently discovered marsupial, the Pouched Mole, we have a counterpart, in both form and habits, of the familiar European species. Finally, in the small American section of the Marsupialia, we meet with a type—the so-called Yapock, or Water-opossum—in which the resemblances to an Otter, in both aspect and its aquatic habits, are so marked that the animal was originally regarded as a species only of the Otter Tribe.
Photo by D. Le Souef] [Melbourne.
ALBINO RED KANGAROOS.
Albino kangaroos and other Australian animals have been observed to be the product of special, narrowly limited locations.
The character of the marsupium, or pouch, differs materially among the various members of their order. It presents its most conspicuous and normal development in such animals as the Kangaroos, Wallabies, and the Australian Opossums or Phalangers. In the Tasmanian Wolf and the Bandicoots the pouch opens backwards. In such forms as the Phascogale, or Pouched Mouse, the pouch is reduced to a few rudimentary skin-folds, while in the Banded Ant-eater its position is occupied by a mere patch of longer hairs, to which the helpless young ones cling. On the same lucus a non lucendo principle there is no trace of a pouch in the Koala, nor in those smaller species of the American Opossums which habitually carry their young upon their back. Even in these pouchless marsupials, however, the peculiar marsupial bones are invariably present, and in all other essential details their accord with the marsupial type of organisation and development is fully maintained.
The Kangaroos.