Chapter XXII: Marsupials and Monotremes (1)

BY W. SAVILLE-KENT, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

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MARSUPIALS.

With the order of the Pouched Mammals we arrive--with the exception of the Echidna and Platypus, next described--at the most simply organised representatives of the Mammalian Class. In the two forms above named, egg-production, after the manner of birds and reptiles, constitutes the only method of propagation. Although among marsupials so rudimentary a method of reproduction is not met with, the young are brought into the world in a far more embryonic condition than occurs among any of the mammalian groups previously enumerated. There is, as a matter of fact, an entire absence of that vascular or blood connection betwixt the parent and young previous to birth, known as placentation, common to all the higher mammals, though certain of the more generalised forms have been recently found to possess a rudiment of such development. In correlation with their abnormally premature birth, it may be observed that a special provision commonly exists for the early nurture of the infant marsupials. In such a form as the Kangaroo, for example, the young one is placed, through the instrumentality of its parent's lips, in contact with the food-supplying teat, and to which for some considerable period it then becomes inseparably attached. Special muscles exist in connection with the parent's mammary glands for controlling the supply of milk to the young animal, while the respiratory organs of the little creature are temporarily modified in order to ensure unimpeded respiration. The fact of the young in their early life being commonly found thus inseparably adhering to the parent's nipple has given rise to the falacious but still very widely prevalent idea among the Australian settlers that the embryo marsupial is ushered into the world as a direct outgrowth from the mammary region.

[_Queensland._

SILVER-GREY KANGAROO.

In general form the kangaroos are so like one another that one figure would almost serve for all.]

At the present day, with the exception of the small group of the American Opossums and the Selvas, the entire assemblage of marsupials, comprising some 36 genera and 150 species, are, singularly to relate, exclusively found in Australia, New Guinea, and the few neighbouring islands recognised by systematic zoologists as pertaining to the Australasian region. What is more, this region of Australasia produces, with some few insignificant exceptions, chiefly rodents, no other indigenous mammals.

[_Ealing._

BLACK-STRIPED WALLABY.

Female with half-grown young in her pouch.]

[_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.

[_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.

The typical and most familiar member of the Marsupial Order is the KANGAROO--the heraldic mammal of that vast island-continent in the South Seas, whose phenomenal advance by leaps and bounds, from what scarcely a century since was represented by but a few isolated settlements, has been aptly likened to the characteristic progression of this animal. Of kangaroos proper there are some twenty-four known species distributed throughout the length and breadth of Australia, extending southwards to Tasmania, and to the north as far as New Guinea and a few other adjacent islands.

In point of size the GREAT GREY KANGAROO and the RED or WOOLLY species run each other very closely. A full-grown male of either species will weigh as much as 200 lbs., and measure a little over 5 feet from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail, this latter important member monopolising another 4 or 4½ feet. The red or woolly species more especially affects the rocky districts of South and East Australia, while the great grey kind is essentially a plain-dweller and widely distributed throughout the grassy plains of the entire Australian Continent and also Tasmania. It is to the big males of this species that the titles of "Boomer," "Forester," and "Old Man Kangaroos" are commonly applied by the settlers, and the species with which the popular and exciting sport of a kangaroo hunt--the Antipodean substitute for fox-hunting--is associated. The pace and staying power of an old man kangaroo are something phenomenal. Our home country fox-hounds would have no chance with it; consequently a breed of rough-haired greyhounds, known as kangaroo-dogs, are specially trained for this sport. A run of eighteen miles, with a swim of two in the sea at the finish, and all within the space of two brief crowded hours, is one of the interesting records chronicled. The quarry, when brought to bay, is, moreover, a by no means despicable foe. Erect on its haunches, with its back against a tree, the dogs approach it at their peril, as, with a stroke of its powerful spur-armed hind foot, it will with facility disembowel or otherwise fatally maim its assailant. Another favourite refuge of the hunted "boomer" is a shallow water-hole, wherein, wading waist-deep, it calmly awaits its pursuers' onslaught. On the dogs swimming out to the attack, it will seize them with its hand-like fore paws, thrust them under water, and, if their rescue is not speedily effected, literally drown them. Even man, without the aid of firearms, is liable to be worsted in an encounter under these conditions, as is evidenced in the following anecdote.

[_Wishaw, N.B._

TASMANIAN WALLABY.

Has softer and thicker fur than its relative of the Australian mainland.]

A newly arrived settler from the old country, or more precisely from the sister island, ignorant of the strength and prowess of the wily marsupial, essayed his maiden kangaroo hunt with only a single dog as company. A fine grey boomer was in due course started, and after an exciting chase was cornered in a water-hole. The dog, rushing after it, was promptly seized and ducked; and Pat, irate at the threatened drowning of his companion, fired, but missed his quarry, and thereupon jumped into the water-hole, with the intention, as he afterwards avowed, "to bate the brains out of the baste" with the butt-end of his gun. The kangaroo, however, very soon turned the tables upon Pat. Before he had time to realise the seriousness of the situation he found himself lifted off his feet, and soused and hustled with such vigour that both Pat and his dog most narrowly escaped a watery grave. A couple of neighbours, by good luck passing that way, observed the turmoil, and came to the rescue. Between them they beat off and killed the kangaroo, and dragged Pat to land in a half-drowned and almost insensible condition. Pat recovered, and vowed "niver to meddle with such big bastes" again.

The doe kangaroos, while of smaller size and possessing much less staying power than their mates, can nevertheless afford a good run for horses and dogs, and are commonly known as "flyers." When carrying a youngster, or "Joey," in her pouch, and hard pressed by the dogs, it is a common thing for the parent to abstract her offspring from the pouch with her fore paws, and to throw it aside into the bush. The instinct of self-preservation only, by the discharge of hampering impedimenta, is usually ascribed to this act; but it is an open question whether the maternal one of securing a chance of escape for her young, while feeling powerless to accomplish it for herself, does not more often represent the actual condition of the case.

In proportion to the size of its body the kangaroo yields but a limited amount of meat that is esteemed for food. The tail represents the most highly appreciated portion, since from it can be compounded a soup not only equal to ordinary ox-tail, but by gourmands considered so superior that its conservation and export have proved a successful trade enterprise. The loins also are much esteemed for the table, but the hind limbs are hard and coarse, and only appreciated by the native when rations are abnormally short. "Steamer," composed of kangaroo-flesh mixed with slices of ham, represented a standing and very popular dish with the earlier Australian settlers; but with the rapid disappearance of the animal before the advance of colonisation this one time common concoction possesses at the present day a greater traditional than actual reputation.

The hunting of the kangaroo is conducted on several distinct lines, the method of its pursuit being varied, according to whether the animal is required for the primary object of food, for the commercial value of its skin, as a matter of pure sport, or to accomplish its wholesale destruction in consequence of its encroachments on the pasturage required for sheep- and cattle-grazing.

[_Melbourne._

ALBINO RED-BELLIED WALLABY.

Many of the Marsupials, including Kangaroos and the Opossum-like Phalangers, exhibit a tendency to albinism.]

[_Queensland._

ROCK-WALLABY.

The Rock-Wallabies, in contradistinction to the Kangaroos, are for the most part nocturnal in their habits.]

The greatest measure of healthy excitement in hunting the kangaroo, from the standpoint of pure sport, is no doubt to be obtained when running the marsupial down with horse and hounds in congenial company, as referred to on a previous page. The stalking of the animal single-handed on horseback or on foot, much after the manner of the deer, has also its enthusiastic votaries, and calls into play the greatest amount of patience and _savoir-faire_ on the part of the sportsman. It has been affirmed by a Queensland writer, "To kill kangaroos with a stalking-horse requires the practice of a lifetime, and few 'new chums' have the patience to learn it. It is, in fact, only stockmen, black-fellows, and natives of the bush who can by this method expect to make kangaroo-shooting pay." The horse which is successfully employed by experienced bushmen for stalking purposes is specially trained to its work, and, walking apparently unconcernedly in the direction of the selected quarry, brings the gunners, if they are experts in the art of keeping themselves well concealed, within easy range. In this manner two or three kangaroos are not infrequently shot in the same stalk, the animals having a tendency, on hearing the report of the gun, but not locating the direction from which it was discharged, to rush about in an aimless manner, and, as frequently happens, in the immediate direction of the hidden sportsman. In the good old times it is recorded that an experienced hand might kill as many as seventy or eighty kangaroos in a day by this stalking method. The marsupials are at the present date, however, so severely decimated that even in the most favourable settled districts a bag of from twelve to twenty head must be regarded as exceptional. Stalking the kangaroo on foot without the horse's aid is more strongly recommended to those to whom an occasional shot is considered sufficiently remunerative. Taking full advantage of intervening bushes and other indigenous cover, an approach to within a hundred yards or so of the quarry may be usually accomplished, though not quite so easily, perhaps, as might be at first anticipated. It is the habit of the kangaroo to sit up waist-high in the midst of the sun-bleached grass, which corresponds so closely in colour with its own hide that unless the animal is silhouetted against the sky-line it readily escapes detection.

[_Melbourne._

PARRY'S WALLABY.

In attitude of listening.]

[_Melbourne._

PARRY'S WALLABY.

Characteristic feeding attitude.]

The conditions under which the kangaroo is obtained for the main purpose of supplying the human commissariat is perhaps most aptly illustrated in connection with its chase as prosecuted by the Australian aborigines. In Tasmania and the Southern Australian States the primeval man is either extinct or more rare than the kangaroo. In the extreme north and far north-west, however, he still poses as "the lord of creation," and conducts his hunting expeditions on a lordly scale. The food-supply of the Australian native is essentially precarious. Long intervals of "short commons" are interspersed with brief periods of over-abundance, in which he indulges his appetite to its fullest bent. A kangaroo drive on native lines represents to the Australian mind one of these last-named superlatively memorable occasions. The entire tribe, men, women, and all capable youths, participate in the sport. Fires are lit by one section of the tribe, according to the direction of the wind, encircling a vast area of the country, while the other section posts itself in detachments in advantageous positions to intercept the terrified marsupials as they fly in the presumed direction of safety to escape the devouring element. Spears and waddies and boomerangs, in the hands of the expert natives, speedily accomplish a scene of carnage, and the after feast that follows may perhaps be best left to the imagination of the reader. The encroachments of neighbouring natives on the happy hunting-grounds that time and custom have conceded to be the sole monopoly of any one particular tribe is most strenuously resented, and constitute one of the commonest sources of their well-nigh perpetual inter-tribal battles.

FOOT OF TREE-KANGAROO.

Underside, showing peculiar skin-corrugations and the united second and third toes.]

A kangaroo battue, as carried into practice by European settlers in those few remaining districts where the animal is sufficiently abundant to constitute a pest by its wholesale consumption of the much-prized pasturage, is far more deadly in its results to the unfortunate marsupials. Existing sheep-fences, supplemented by a large suitably enclosed yard, are first specially prepared for the reception of the expected victims. All the settlers, stockmen, and farm hands from the country round are pressed into service, and assemble on horseback or on foot at the appointed rendezvous at break of day. A widely spreading cordon of beaters being told off, a systematic drive is then commenced, which results in all the animals being driven towards and collected within the enclosed yard. The culminating scene is one of wholesale slaughter with club and gun. From these battues none of the unfortunate animals escape, as they are so closely hemmed in.

The first record of the existence of the kangaroo, coupled with its characteristic name, is found associated, it is interesting to observe, with the history of one of the earlier voyages of Captain Cook. The neighbourhood of Cooktown, in Queensland, claims the honour of supplying the first example of the animal which was brought to Europe and astonished the zoologists of that time by the singularity of its form and reported habits. Captain Cook happened--in July, 1770--to be laying up his ship, the _Endeavour_, for repairs, after narrowly escaping total wreck on the neighbouring Great Barrier Reef, in the estuary of the river subsequently coupled with his ship's name. Foraging parties, dispatched with the object of securing, if possible, fresh meat or game for the replenishment of the ship's well-nigh exhausted larder, returned with reports of a strange creature, of which they subsequently secured specimens. Skins were preserved and brought to England, but it was some little time before the zoological position and affinities of the creature were correctly allocated. By some naturalists it was regarded as representing a huge species of Jerboa, its near relationship to the previously known American Opossums being, however, eventually substantiated. The closer acquaintanceship with the peculiar fauna of Australia that followed upon Captain Cook's memorable voyage of discovery along the coast-line of that island-continent soon familiarised naturalists with many other of the allied species of which the kangaroo constitutes the leading representative.

Some considerable amount of obscurity is associated with the prime origin of the animal's almost world-wide title of "Kangaroo." It is most commonly accepted as representing the native name for the creature in that Queensland district from whence it was first reported by Captain Cook. No later investigations and enquiries have, however, in any way established the correctness of this hypothesis, those explorers who have made a special study of the dialects and habits of the aboriginal inhabitants entirely failing to elicit anything even remotely coinciding with the name in question. It has, in fact, been reluctantly concluded by one of the most experienced Queensland authorities on these matters that the name originated as a mere miscomprehension of the information elicited from the natives. Verbal communication with the native tribes under the most favourable circumstances is liable to a vast amount of misunderstanding, and where other than linguistic experts are present it frequently happens that much mongrel or "pidgin English" gets mixed up with the native terms. Assuming this to have been the case in the present instance, it has been suggested that the name of Kangaroo, or "Kanguroo," as it was originally spelt, implied some form of negation of the knowledge which the enquiring white man was seeking to elicit, or, maybe, partly even a phonetic and parrot-like repetition of the constantly recurring query that was doubtless current among the "handy men" of the _Endeavour's_ commission, such as "Can you" tell me this or that concerning the many unfamiliar objects that greeted the eyes of the new arrivals in this strange land. The writer retains a vivid recollection of a closely analogous manner in which the rural inhabitants of Vigo Bay, on the Spanish coast, appropriated a common phrase used by the crew of the yacht with whom he landed there. Having evidently noted that the two words "I say" prefaced the majority of Jack-tar's speeches, this catch-phrase was adopted and applied by them as a greeting and as a reply to almost every interrogation in dumb-show or otherwise that was addressed to them. An unknown animal submitted to these rustic Solons would doubtless have been dubbed the "I say"; and had the land been a new one--say, somewhere in the South Seas--that name would probably have stuck to it. Applying this interpretation to the kangaroo, and bearing in mind the fondness of the Australian native to duplicate his name-words or syllables--e.g. _wagga-wagga_, _debil-debil_, and so forth--the "Kang-you-you" or a closely resembling phonetic expression would present itself to the native mind as a much more correct rendering of the simpler "Can you" or "Kang you" which he had picked up as a catch-phrase from the _Endeavour's_ crew. In the absence, at all events, of any more rational interpretation of the mystery, this one would seem to merit consideration.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

BROWN TREE-KANGAROO.

This species represents the group in North Queensland.]

While the kangaroo is being speedily dethroned from the dominant position it originally occupied in the indigenous Australian fauna, praiseworthy and highly successful attempts have been made to acclimatise this marsupial on British soil. At Tring Park, Lord Rothschild's estate, Woburn Abbey, and elsewhere, troops of these graceful creatures may be seen under conditions of happiness and liberty scarcely inferior to those by which they are environed in their native "bush."

THE GREAT KANGAROO LEAPING.

In the posture in which this animal is represented the extraordinary size and strength of the hind limbs and tail are displayed to the best advantage. Both features are connected with the animal's marvellous powers of leaping.]

Of smaller members of the Kangaroo Family, there are some thirty distinct forms, popularly known in Australia as WALLABIES, WALLAROOS, PADDY-MELONS, POTOROOS, KANGAROO-HARES, KANGAROO-RATS, etc. The wallabies, which represent the most important group with regard to their larger size and economic utility, number some fourteen or fifteen species, and are distinguished, with relation more especially to their habitats or peculiar structure, as ROCK-, BRUSH-TAIL, and SPUR-TAIL WALLABIES, etc. Among the rock-wallabies the yellow-footed species from South Australia is undoubtedly one of the handsomest as well as the largest member of its group, the uniform grey characteristic of the majority of its members being in this instance represented by an elegantly striped and banded form, in which the several tints of brown, yellow, black, and white are pleasingly interblended. A very fine example of this wallaby was included in the valuable collection of animals, formerly at Windsor, recently presented to the Zoological Society by His Majesty King Edward, and is now on view at the Regent's Park. The successful stalking of rock-wallabies in their native fastnesses entails no mean amount of patience and agility. Although these animals are so abundant in favoured localities as to make hard-beaten tracks to and fro betwixt their rock-dwellings and their pasture-grounds, one may traverse the country in broad daylight without catching a glimpse of a single individual. One species, about the size of a large rabbit, is very plentiful among the rocky bastion-like hills that border the Ord River, which flows into Cambridge Gulf, in Western Australia. Efforts to stalk examples in broad daylight proved fruitless; but by sallying out a little before daybreak, so as to arrive at their feeding-grounds while the light was still dim, the writer succeeded in securing several specimens. Many of these rock-wallabies are notable for the length, fine texture, and pleasing tints of their fur, their skins on such account being highly esteemed for the composition of carriage-rugs and other furry articles.

[_Melbourne._

TREE-KANGAROOS.

Examples acclimatised in the Melbourne Zoological Gardens.]

Of the larger brush or scrub varieties, the species known as the BLACK WALLABY is the most familiar form. It is particularly abundant in the Southern Australian States, and also in Tasmania. Its flesh is excellent eating, and, dressed and served up in the orthodox manner of jugged hare, can scarcely be distinguished from that toothsome dish. Some of the smaller species, such as the hare- and rat-kangaroos or potoroos, are, as their names denote, of no larger dimensions than the familiar rodents from which they are popularly named. Several of these smaller species, including notably the potoroo, or kangaroo-rat of New South Wales, are addicted to paying marked attention to the settlers' gardens, and, being to a large extent root-feeders, have acquired a special predilection for the newly planted or more fully matured potato crops.

[_Notting Hill._

GAIMARD'S RAT-KANGAROO.

A species named after the French naturalist, Gaimard.]

The most abnormal group of the Kangaroo Family is undoubtedly that of the TREE-KANGAROOS, formerly supposed to have been limited in its distribution to the island of New Guinea, but which has within recent years been found to be represented by one or more species in Northern Queensland. At the Melbourne Zoo they have been found, except in the coldest weather, to thrive well in the open--a moderate-sized tree, with a small fenced-in enclosure around it, being admirably suited to their requirements, at the same time providing a most instructive exhibition of their peculiar forms and idiosyncrasies. Seen at its best, however, the tree-kangaroo, or "boongarry," as it is known amongst the Queensland natives, is a most clumsy, melancholy-looking beast, which has apparently found itself "up a tree," not as the outcome of its personal predilections, but owing to the _force majeure_ of untoward pressure in the form either of relentlessly persecuting enemies or the failure of its normal terrestrial commissariat. Compared with the graceful and superlatively agile tree-frequenting phalangers, between whom and the ordinary kangaroos it has been sometimes, but erroneously, regarded as representing a connecting-link, the boongarry presents a most ungainly contrast. Its climbing powers are of the slowest and most awkward description, the whole of its energies being concentrated on its endeavour to preserve its balance and to retain a tight hold upon the branches of the trees it frequents, and to which it clings with such tenacity with its long sharp claws that it can with difficulty be detached. In its wild state, moreover, these claws can be very effectively used as weapons of defence; and hence the natives, with whom the animal is highly esteemed as an article of food, are careful to give it its quietus with their clubs or waddies before venturing to handle it. The tree-kangaroos inhabit the densest parts of the forests or "scrubs" of New Guinea and tropical Queensland, and appear to confine their movements chiefly to the trees of moderate size, or the lower branches only of the taller ones.

The species which constitutes the most natural known connecting-link between the typical Kangaroos and the family of the Phalangers, next described, is the FIVE-TOED RAT-KANGAROO, or POTOROO. As its name implies, it is a small creature of rat-like aspect and dimensions, and possesses, like a rat, a long, cylindrical, naked, scaly tail. It is the structure of the feet, however, that constitutes the important distinction. In place of the four toes only to the hind limbs it possesses the full complement of five, and the first toe, moreover, is set farther back, and is opposable for grasping purposes. This animal is from Queensland.

RAT-KANGAROO FROM NEW SOUTH WALES.

One of the small jerboa-like species.]

THE PHALANGERS.

The Phalanger Family of Marsupials, which next invites attention, is constituted of animals especially adapted to lead an arboreal life, though among themselves they exhibit very considerable structural variations. The species usually placed at the head of this group is the essentially droll and in many respects abnormal form known as the KOALA, or AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR. Its little podgy tailless body, short thick-set head, and round tufted ears lend some countenance perhaps to the ursine analogy; but there the likeness ends.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR AND CUB.

An excellent illustration of the way in which the female koalas carry their young securely perched on their backs.]

The koala is limited in its distribution to the south-eastern region of the Australian Continent, and is there found inhabiting the loftiest gum-trees, on the leaves and flowers of which it almost exclusively feeds. Compared with the opossum and squirrel-like phalangers, the koala is a very slow and sedentary little animal, remaining stationary in and browsing upon the leaves of the same gum-tree for days or even weeks at a stretch. Taking advantage of this home-staying propensity, examples are established, with full liberty to wander at will among the large gum-trees, in the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, and have never abused the confidence reposed in them by surreptitiously absconding. The young koalas in particular make the most droll and delightful of household pets, speedily becoming attached to and following their owners about the premises, or contentedly settling down to the possession of an allotted corner of the verandah, in which an improvised perch has been erected and a constant supply of its favourite gum-leaves is daily assured. One such example, kept in Brisbane, Queensland, furnished the writer with the material for the photograph on this page; also of another one that illustrated in an interesting manner the very singular attitude assumed by the animal when asleep. Instead of creeping into the hollow trunk or spout of a gum or other tree, as the opossums and other phalangers are wont to do, the little "bear" simply sticks tight to his supporting branch, and, tucking in his head and ears and limbs, converts himself into an apparently homogeneous rounded mass of fur or moss, and, thus disguised, peacefully sleeps. Seen at some little distance, in fact, none but a trained eye could distinguish this sleeping bear from one of the round woody excrescences or bunches of misletoe-like parasitic growths that are of common occurrence on the trees in every gum forest. In this way the little creature secures immunity from the attacks of enemies by mimicking the characteristic peculiarities of its environment, as obtains so generally among insects and other of the lower orders of animated nature. A closely analogous sleeping attitude, it may be mentioned, is assumed by one of the African lemurs or pottos, which have been dealt with in a previous chapter.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.

The koala has no tail, and is a stout, clumsily built animal, about 32 inches in length, with thick woolly fur of a greyish colour.]

Although in captivity the koala takes kindly to a mixed diet in which bread-and-milk and fruit may form substantial elements, it can rarely be induced to altogether dispense with its customary gum-leaf regimen, and it is this circumstance that mainly accounts for its rarity in European menageries. Time and again, however, this interesting animal has put in an appearance at the Regent's Park; but in spite of Kew Gardens and other sources being laid under contribution for a supply of gum-tree leaves, its sojourn there has been but brief. As a matter of fact, the common or blue gum-tree, which is alone cultivated and available in any quantity in this country, and which is indigenous to Tasmania, is not the species on which the koala is accustomed to feed. Of gum-trees there are some hundred species, every one differing in the peculiarity of its aromatic scent and flavour, and having its special clientèle among the ranks of leaf-browsing animals. So far as the writer's observations extended, it was the big Queensland "white" and "swamp" gums that were especially patronised by the Australian bears, and these are not grown in England.

Although at first sight, and normally so far as the younger individuals are concerned, the koala would appear to represent the most perfect embodiment of peace and goodwill among mammals, he is accredited at a maturer age, when crossed in love or goaded to resentment by some other cause, to give way to fits of ungovernable rage. These temporary lapses are, however, very transient, and our little friend soon recovers his customary bland placidity. While it is being threshed out, nevertheless, the "burden of song" delivered by rival claimants for a partner's favours is a remarkable phenomenon. The circumstance that the vocal duet is commonly executed high up among the branches of the loftiest gums no doubt adds very considerably to both the timbre of the "music" and the distance to which it is carried. The old-time phrase of "making the welkin ring" would undoubtedly have been applied with alacrity and singular appropriateness by the poets of the departed century to the love-song of the koala, had they been privileged to hear it.

Among the examples of the koala which have been in residence at the Zoo, one of them came to a pathetic end. As told to the writer by Mr. A. D. Bartlett, the late superintendent, it appears that the little animal, on exhibition in the gardens during the day, was brought into the house at night, and allowed the run of a room which, among other furniture, included a large swing looking-glass. One morning the little creature was found crushed to death beneath the mirror, upon which it had apparently climbed and over-balanced. The information that the animal was a female evoked the suspicion that personal vanity and the admiration of its own image in the glass had some share in compassing its untimely end. Possibly, however, it hailed in the reflection the welcome advent of a companion to share its lone banishment from the land of the gum-tree, and in its efforts to greet it thus came to grief.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.

These animals make a peculiarly plaintive cry when molested in any way by human beings.]

The female koala produces but one cub at a time. At an early period after its birth this is transferred to its mother's back, and is thus transported until its dimensions are about one-half of those of its parent. The pair as shown in the illustration on page 355 presents, under these conditions, an essentially grotesque aspect.

It is a noteworthy circumstance that, compared with the male, the female koala is but rarely to be observed wandering abroad during broad daylight. As with the typical phalangers food is consumed chiefly at night or during the brief Australian twilight hours. While the male at certain periods, more especially the months of March and April, is much in evidence in daytime to both the senses of sight and hearing, as attested to on a previous page, the female spends the whole or greater portion of the day clinging as an inert sleeping mass to a convenient branch. "Bear"-shooting in Australia, as might be anticipated from the description here given of the animal's habits and temperament, affords but sorry sport. It may further be remarked that those who have shot at and only disabled one of these inoffensive little creatures are scarcely likely to repeat the experiment. The cry of a wounded koala has been aptly compared to that of a distressed child, but still more pathetic. When fatally shot, it also more frequently than otherwise clings tenaciously back-downwards, like the South American sloths, to the supporting tree-branch, and is thus frequently irrecoverable. With the non-sentimental Australian furrier the koala's pelt of soft, crisp, ashy-grey fur is unfortunately in considerable demand, being made up mostly, with the quaint round head and tufted ears intact, into, it must be confessed, singularly attractive and warm rugs.

The correspondence of the koala in form and habits to the sloths among the higher mammalia has been previously mentioned. The parallelism might be pursued in yet another direction. In earlier times the small tree-inhabiting South American sloths were supplemented by ground-frequenting species, such as the Megatherium, which were of comparatively titanic proportions. The epoch of the accredited existence of these huge ground-sloths was so comparatively recent--the later tertiaries--that it is even yet not regarded as altogether improbable that some existing representative of the race may yet be discovered in the fastnesses of the South American forests, and thus claim a niche in the pages of a subsequent edition of "LIVING ANIMALS." In a like manner the little sloth-like tree-frequenting "Australian Bear" had his primeval ground-dwelling colossi, and there is yet a lurking hope among enthusiastic zoologists that some surviving scion of the little koala's doughty forebears may yet turn up in the practically unexplored Central Australian wildernesses. Some such anticipations, as a matter of fact, stimulated the hopes and aspirations of the participators in one of the latest of these exploring expeditions, which, while not successful in this instance in obtaining so great a prize, secured for science that most interesting and previously unknown marsupial mammal the Pouched Mole.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

SQUIRREL-LIKE FLYING-PHALANGER OF VICTORIA.

This animal has soft grey fur like that of the chinchilla.]

THE TYPICAL PHALANGERS.

The typical PHALANGERS, or OPOSSUMS, as they are familiarly known throughout Australia, include a very considerable number of representatives, ranging in size from that of a small mouse to that of a full-grown cat. All are essentially arboreal in their habits, feeding principally on the leaves and flowers of the various gums. They are for the most part strictly nocturnal in their habits, and make their homes and retiring-places during the day in the hollow trunks and limbs that are of such abundant occurrence in the periodically fire-swept Australian forests. Almost all the larger species are notable for the length, thickness, and exquisitely fine texture of their fur, a circumstance for which they are consequently laid under heavy penalties for the sake of their pelts. The island colony of Tasmania, in the extreme south, with its colder climate, as might be anticipated, produces the finest qualities of these furs, that of the BLACK or SOOTY OPOSSUM, which is peculiar to the island, being most highly prized. The length and furry character of their in many instances prehensile tails also form a conspicuous feature of this group. Nature, in fact, apparently distributed caudal material so over-liberally among these marsupials that the little koala had to make shift without.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

LARGER FLYING-PHALANGER.

A nearly pure white example.]

The group of the Phalanger Family popularly known as FLYING-SQUIRRELS, or more correctly as FLYING-PHALANGERS, is almost universally admitted to include some of the most beautiful of living mammals. In external structure, so far as their peculiar so-called "flying" mechanism is concerned, these animals coincide in a remarkable manner with the true flying-squirrels, belonging to the Rodent Order, indigenous to the Asiatic and American Continents. In neither instance is there flight, in the true sense of the term, similar to that of birds and bats, but the fore and hind limbs are connected by a parachute-like membrane, which, outstretched when the animal leaps from tree to tree, buoys it up and enables its owner to traverse, in a straight and gradually descending line only, very considerable distances.

The smaller squirrel-like form common to the south-eastern districts of Australia, and on account of its predilection for sweets commonly known as the SUGAR-SQUIRREL, makes a most charming little pet. For the most part addicted to sleep, and impatient at being disturbed during the day, towards sundown it wakes up, and is full of frolic. One such example was the writer's travelling companion for a considerable interval in Western Australia. While remaining packed conveniently away in a small box throughout the day, it was accustomed to enjoy the liberty of whatever apartment its owner occupied in the evening and throughout the night, returning of its own accord to its sleeping-box with the approach of dawn. On one exceptional occasion, however, Master Tiny, as this individual was named, was missing in the morning from his accustomed crib, and a prolonged search and examination of every corner and article of furniture that could afford shelter failed to recover him. That the little creature was lost through some one having unwittingly left the door of the apartment open, permitting its escape, was the only and much-deplored conclusion that could be arrived at. Towards evening, however, there was a slight rustle close at hand, and Master Tiny was discovered emerging, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter, from the top of one of the old-fashioned china dogs that decorated the hotel-room mantelpiece. The ornament, seemingly intact from the front, had the back of the head battered in. Through the resulting crevice the little animal had managed to squeeze itself, having come to the conclusion, doubtless, that this newly chosen retreat more nearly resembled the cavernous shelter of its native tree-spout than its accustomed artificially constructed box. This singular domicile Master Tiny was permitted to monopolise for the remainder of his sojourn at that hostelry. One of the favourite diversions of this little phalanger during the evenings was to climb up the curtain and cornice of the room he occupied, and thence hurl himself through the air with outspread parachute to the writer at the opposite end. The apartment, happening to be the commercial room of the hotel, some thirty feet in length, gave him good scope for exercising his characteristic flying leaps. The attitude invariably maintained during these flights is aptly illustrated in the accompanying photograph; the body is never poised with the head inclined downwards, as is commonly depicted in artists' fancy sketches of the animal contained in popular natural histories. A friend of the writer's in Tasmania, who kept one of these flying-phalangers as a household pet, was accustomed to leave a crevice of the window open at night, so that the little fellow could go in and out as it liked. After the manner of most pets, however, a day arrived upon which its box was found vacant, a marauding cat or other disaster having apparently compassed its untimely end.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

LESSER FLYING-PHALANGER.

Illustrating position maintained during its remarkable flying leaps.]

[_Milford-on-Sea._

PYGMY FLYING-PHALANGER.

A life-size photograph. The hairs of the tail in this animal are arranged in two parallel lines, like the vanes of a bird's feather.]

The larger flying-phalanger, the dimensions of our domestic tabby, and with fur as long and as soft as the Persian variety, is less frequently domesticated. It has, in fact, an evil reputation for scratching, biting, and general untamableness. One that was kept for some little time by the late Dr. Bennett, of Sydney, and brought to England, never entirely lost its innate savagery. On the voyage from Australia it became sufficiently tame as to be allowed occasionally to run about on the deck, and was so far amiable as to lay on its back and permit itself to be tickled. On attempting to handle it, however, "it displayed its usual savage disposition, digging its sharp claws and teeth into the bands of its captor." The writer was fortunate in being the recipient in Queensland of a couple of these large phalangers which were exceptions to the usual rule. These specimens--a mother and its young male offspring--also varied in colour from normal examples, which are usually dark slate or blackish brown above and whitish underneath. The mother in this instance was a beautiful cream-white throughout; and her young one, while dark chinchilla-grey upon the back, limbs, and tail, had white ears and breast. Both were very friendly, and would of their own accord climb over their owner's person, seeking in his pockets for hidden lumps of sugar and other acceptable dainties. As with the smaller squirrel-like forms, they slept throughout the greater portion of the day, waking to activity and making excursions in search of their food as soon as the sun went down. The tail of this species of phalanger is abnormally long and furry, but not prehensile. It was observed of them that when feeding leisurely on the gum-tree leaves this appendage was permitted to hang or rest loosely, but that when walking along the branches they would very frequently coil this member into a tight spiral coil, like a watch-spring or the proboscis of a butterfly, against their hindquarters. This phenomenon is apparently unique among mammals. Although generally seeking the darker retreat of their box for their long daylight sleep, the female, more particularly, would frequently simply curl herself up into a furry white ball in one corner of the cage, the head, limbs, or other features being at such times altogether indistinguishable. The aid of the magnesium flash-light was successfully called into service to secure the photographic likeness of this animal, here reproduced, which was taken while it was enjoying its evening meal.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

COMMON GREY OPOSSUM, OR PHALANGER.

The fur of this species is in great demand for the manufacture of carriage-rugs.]

As previously mentioned, some representatives of the flying-phalanger group are no larger than mice, and are furnished in a similar manner with a parachute-like membrane that enables them to take abnormally long flying leaps, or as it were to sail horizontally through the air. The PYGMY FLYING-PHALANGER, whose length of body does not exceed 2½ inches, is one of the most interesting. The tail in this form is also adapted for aerial flotation, the long hairs that grow upon this appendage being arranged in two parallel lines like the vanes of a feather. Its distribution is limited to the south and eastern districts of the Australian Continent. There are also a number of mouse- and squirrel-like phalangers destitute of the flying-membrane, which in this respect very closely resemble in external aspect more typical members of the Rodent Order. One form in particular, the STRIPED PHALANGER of New Guinea, decorated with broad longitudinal black and white stripes, is singularly suggestive of some of the variously striped American squirrels. This interesting island of New Guinea also produces a little PYGMY PHALANGER with a feather-like tail which, except for the absence of a parachute or flying-membrane, is the very counterpart of the Australian kind. Another species, which in shape, size, and more especially with reference to its long, pointed snout, closely resembles a shrew-mouse, is found in Western Australia. The tail of this species, known as the LONG-SNOUTED PHALANGER, is highly prehensile; and it is also provided with a long, slender, protrusile tongue, with which it abstracts the honey from Banksias and other flowers, upon which it customarily feeds.

The two large phalangers known as the BLACK and GREY or VULPINE OPOSSUMS, which are chiefly laid under contribution for the Australian fur supplies, are provided with prehensile tails, the under side of the extremity of which grasps the supporting fulcrum and is devoid of hair. The adaptation of the tail for use as a fifth hand--as in the New World monkeys--is, however, much more conspicuously manifested in what are known to the colonists as the RING-TAILED OPOSSUMS, and to zoologists as CRESCENT-TOOTHED PHALANGERS. In these the tail tapers to a fine point, and the hair throughout the terminal third of this appendage is so fine and short that it at first sight presents the appearance of being entirely naked. This terminal third of the tail, moreover, in the greater number of species, contrasts with the remaining portion by being white in hue. It occasionally happens, however, that individuals occur which are entirely white. One such which came into the writer's possession was obtained from the Bruni Islands, in the Derwent Estuary, Tasmania, and afterwards became a great pet with the young people at Government House, Hobart. It is an interesting circumstance that the Bruni Islands were noted for the production of albino animals of various descriptions, white kangaroos and white emus having also been obtained from this locality. Probably some peculiarity of the soil, and its action on the vegetable food the animals consumed, played an important part in the unusually frequent occurrence of this phenomenon.

[_Sydney._

AUSTRALIAN GREY OPOSSUM, OR PHALANGER.

On account of its "foxy" appearance, this species is also known as the Vulpine Phalanger.]

[_Milford-on-Sea._

FRONT VIEW OF GREY OPOSSUM, OR PHALANGER.

Displays the bare under-surface of the prehensile tail.]

The ring-tailed opossums differ essentially from the common opossum or phalanger and its allies in their life habits. While these latter habitually take up their abode and bring forth their young in hollow trees, the ring-tailed species construct a regular nest of interlaced sticks, leaves, grass, or any other available material for their domicile. The structure much resembles the nest, or "drey," of our own familiar European squirrel, and may be perched high up among the tree branches or within only a few feet from the ground among the scrub thickets. In New Guinea a variety of these ring-tailed phalangers occurs, not found in Australia, which has no white tip to its tail, and the ears are very short and wide. The group as represented by this species leads to the consideration of the so-called CUSCUSES or typical phalangers indigenous to New Guinea and North Queensland, though but rarely seen there, which, as an exception to the Marsupial Tribe, are distributed among the Indo-Malay Islands as far westward as Celebes. In the cuscuses the tail is altogether naked, and pre-eminently prehensile throughout almost its entire terminal moiety; the ears are round and, proportionately, exceedingly small; while the fur is very short, thick, and woolly. Compared with the opossums or phalangers, the cuscuses are very dull and sluggish in their movements, creeping slowly among the branches of the trees to browse on the fruit and leaves which constitute their principal diet. Like the opossums, however, or even to a greater extent, they vary this vegetarian regimen with insects or an occasionally captured bird.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

PROFILE VIEW OF GREY OPOSSUM, OR PHALANGER.

The opossums are usually shot by moonlight, as seen silhouetted against the sky.]

THE CUSCUSES.

The familiar SPOTTED CUSCUS of New Guinea is the most ornate marsupial mammal. The males, more especially, are as variegated in colour as a tortoiseshell cat, their tints, moreover, closely corresponding in hue with those of the feline. No two individuals, however, are precisely alike in this respect. Usually the ground-colour of the back is a dirty or creamy white, interspersed with various-shaped blotches of nut-brown or black; the chin, breast, and under-parts are a purer white, and the limbs grey or reddish brown, or, as shown in the photograph over-leaf, mottled like the body. The BLACK CUSCUS of Celebes is, as its name denotes, a much more sombre-looking animal, and is also the largest species, its dimensions equalling or exceeding those of a large cat. The uniformly tinted GREY CUSCUS of Timor, Amboina, and other of the Indo-Malay Islands is very similar in size and aspect, excepting for the half-naked tail, to the common ring-tailed phalanger. All the cuscuses are of rare occurrence in even their most favoured habitats. On one occasion the writer came across an example of the grey species in the scrub forest of Thursday Island, Torres Straits. In this instance, however, it is doubtful if the animal was not an escaped pet brought over from the neighbouring coast of New Guinea.

[_Sydney._

RING-TAILED OPOSSUM, OR PHALANGER, AND NEST.

This is the only Australian opossum which builds a regular nest.]

Much interesting information concerning different varieties of the cuscus is contained in Dr. Alfred Wallace's interesting work "The Malay Archipelago." An anecdote of one which was brought to this naturalist during his residence in the Aru Islands--the headquarters of the great bird of paradise--is thus related: "Just as we had cleared away and packed up for the night, a strange beast was brought, which had been shot by the natives. It resembled in size and in its white woolly covering a small fat lamb, but had short legs, hand-like feet with large claws, and a long prehensile tail. It was a Spotted Cuscus, one of the curious marsupial animals of the Papuan region, and I was very desirous to obtain the skin. The owners, however, said they wanted to eat it; and though I offered them a good price, and promised to give them all the meat, there was great hesitation. Suspecting the reason, I offered, though it was night, to set to work immediately, and get out the body for them, to which they agreed. The creature was much hacked about, and the two hind feet almost cut off, but it was the largest and finest specimen of the kind I had seen; and after an hour's hard work I handed over the body to the owners, who immediately cut it up and roasted it for supper."

[_Croydon._

SPOTTED CUSCUS.

The cuscuses are sleepy animals, with soft, woolly fur, which in this species is curiously variegated in colour.]

The remarkable tenacity of life possessed by the cuscus is fully attested to by Dr. Wallace. He says: "They move about slowly, and are most difficult to kill, owing to the thickness of their skins and tenacity of life. A heavy charge of shot will often lodge in the skin and do them no harm, and even breaking the spine or piercing the brain will not kill them for some hours. The natives everywhere eat their flesh; and as their motions are so slow, easily catch them by climbing; so that it is wonderful that they have not been exterminated. It may be, however, that their dense woolly fur protects them from birds of prey, and the islands they live in are too thinly inhabited for man to be able to exterminate them."