Page:The mammals of Australia Gould vol 2.djvu/235

 Banded Hare-Kangaroo.

Kangarus fasciatus, Péron et Lesueur, Voy. aux Terr. Aust., tom. i. p. 114. pl. 27. Desm. Mamm., part i. p. 274.

Halmatums elegans, Cuv. Règue Anim., tom. i. p. 187.

Bettongia fasciata, Gould, Mon. of Macropodidæ, pi.

Lagorchestes albipilis, Gould, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. x. 1842, p. 2.

Macropus (Lagorchestes) fasciatus, Waterh. Nat. Hist, of Mamm., vol. i. p. 87.

that this beautiful species is noticed for the first time in the Voyage of the celebrated Dampier, but MM. Peron and Lesueur are undoubtedly entitled to the credit of making it known to science. It was during their voyage to the "Terres Australes," and while exploring the western coasts of Australia, that they met with it on Dirk Hartogs and the neighbouring islands, where it was found among the impenetrable low thickets formed of a species of Mimosa, "from these bushes," says MM. Peron and Lesueur, "it cuts away the lower branches and spines so as to form galleries communicating one with another, in which it takes refuge in time of danger. The females bring forth but one young one at a time. Although abundant on the islands, none were to be found on the main land. These little Kangaroos, like all feeble animals which have neither the power of attack nor of defence, are extremely timid. The slightest noise caused them to take flight to the thick brushwood in which their galleries are constructed, and where it is impossible to pursue them; hence, although very common, they are difficult to procure." Although the above-mentioned naturalists were unable to discover the animal on the main land, the researches of more recent travellers, aided by the facilities afforded by the colonization of the country, have shown that it is not only abundant there, but enjoys a most extensive range. Mr. Gilbert found it far in the interior of the Swan River Colony, and Mr. Eyre, one of the most indefatigable of Australian explorers, states that he frequently observed it in the Murray Scrub of South Australia; here then we have a range of many thousand square miles of country as the known habitat of this beautiful species, and we may consequently infer, that every intermediate district between Southern and Western Australia favourable to its habits is tenanted by it. Mr. Gilbert states that it is called Marnine by the natives of the interior of Western Australia, and is only to be found in densely thick scrubs, on flats and on the edges of swamps, where the small brush Melaleuca grows so thickly, that it is almost impossible for a man to force his way through; its runs being under this, the animal escapes even the quick eye of a native. The only possible means of obtaining it is by having a number of natives to clear the spot, and two or three with dogs and guns to watch for it.

During an excursion into the interior Mr. Gilbert was so fortunate as to cross one of its haunts, but so dense was the vegetation, that after three days of severe toil, he was only able to secure a single specimen; he adds, that it appears to run in company with the Damas, which being more numerous were continually presenting themselves and disappointing him, the vegetation being much too thick to distinguish the one from the other until after they had been shot. The natives are in the habit of burning these thickets at intervals of three years, and by this means destroy very great numbers; and this, in fact, appears to be the only plan they could very well adopt for capturing both the Marnine and the Dama, for the mere treading down an open space, as is done at King George's Sound, will not answer here: the specimen he procured was a male, and weighed three pounds and three-quarters.

From the period of MM. Peron and Lesueur's Voyage in 1800—1804 until 1842, when M. Priess, a German naturalist, visited Western Australia, no example of this little Kangaroo was sent to Europe. The specimens from which the description published by the former gentlemen was taken, still form part of the collection of the "Jardin des Plantes" at Paris, but from long exposure to a powerful light, and their muzzles having in the course of time become denuded of hair, their appearance is so much altered, that I was induced to believe that the animal brought home by M. Priess was both generically and specifically distinct; and therefore, while, from their apparently naked muzzles, I placed the Paris animals in the genus Bettongia, I referred the recently received specimen to the genus Lagorchestes, and gave it the name of L. albipilis; this error has been corrected by Mr. Waterhouse, who, after a careful examination and