PETROGALE BRACHYOTIS, Gould.
Short-eared Rock-Wallaby.
Spec. C h a r .P e t . teller e e fusco cinereo, apud partes inferiores albescente ,• cauda Jloccosa, ad apicem nigra ; utraque gena
linea albescente notatd.
Descr.—General colour greyish hrown; under surface o f the body dirty white, obscurely tinted with yellowish: on each
side o f the body, near the base o f the fore leg, a dusky patch; a dirty white mark is observable on each side
of the head, and an indistinct mark on the base of the thigh; tail moderately bushy, coloured at the base like
the body, but the apical third dusky black.
Male.
feet.] , inches.
Length from the nose to the extremity of the t a i l 3 0
,, o f t a i l .......................................................................... ..................................... i 3
„ „ tarsus and toes, including the n a il............................................ 5
„ „ arms and hands, including the n a i l s ...................................... 31
„ „ face from the tip of the nose to the base of the ear . . . 31.
,, ,, e a r ................................................................................................. jx
Petrogale brachyotis, Gould in Proc. o f Zool. Soc., for Oct. 1840.
T his new species o f Rock-Wallaby was presented to me by Captain George Grey, the present Governor o f South
Australia, wlio procured it on the north-west coast while traversing that previously unexplored region. Only two specimens
were collected: these fortunately proved to be a male and a female, and apparently adult. It differs from
most o f the other species with which I am acquainted in the shortness and scantiness o f its hair, which may, perhaps,
be attributed to the great heat o f the latitudes it inhabits, and the peculiar localities to which the animal resorts, viz.
hard craggy surfaces exposed to the burning sun. The following account, which has been kindly furnished me by
His Excellency, is all that is known respecting i t :—■
“ I procured this, species near Hanover Bay, December the 29th, 1837. It is excessively wild and shy in its habits; frequenting
in the day-time the highest and most inaccessible rocks, and only comes down to the valleys to feed early in the
morning and late in the evening. When disturbed in the day-time it bounds among the roughest and most precipitous rocks,
apparently with the greatest facility, and is so watchful and wary that it is by no means easy to get a shot at it. How it can
support the excessive heat of the sand rocks amongst which it always lies is to me truly astonishing, the temperature there
during the hottest part of the day being frequently 136°. I have never seen this animal on the low land or the plains, and I
consequently believe it to be entirely an inhabitant of the mountains.”