HYFSJDPIKEWlHTCrS F IL A W iD F g ,
HYPSIPRYMNUS PLATYOPS, Gould.
Broad-faced I? at-Kang-aroo.
Hypsiprymnus platyops, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., p art xii. p. 103.
------------------( Potoroas) platyops, Waterh. Nat. Hist. Mamm., vol. i. p. 231.
T his species is the least of the family of Kangaroos- yet discovered; and is so rare that an adult male in
my own collection and another in that of the British Museum, both procured by Mr. Gilbert in Western
Australia, one in the Walyema Swamps, near Northam in the interior, and the other at King George’s
Sound, are all the examples that have yet been seen. When compared with Hypsiprymnus Gilberti and its
allies, the present species will be found to differ from the whole of them in several particulars; the more
important of which are its smaller size and the great breadth of its zygomatic arches, which, together with
the brevity o f its nose, give to the facial aspect of the. animal a very bluff appearance, not unlike that
of the young Wombat.
At the time Mr. Waterhouse wrote the first volume of his “ Natural History of the Mammalia,” the
specimen from which he took his description was the only one that had reached this country; the adult
male I have since received differs in no material respect, and I therefore transcribe his remarks and
description verbatim.
“ This,” says Mr. Waterhouse, “ is a small and very distinct species, readily distinguished from Hyps,
minor and H. Gilberti by its having the tip of the muzzle naked in front only; while in the two species first
named the naked part of the muzzle is extended somewhat on the upper surface; the zygomatic arches (so.
far as may be judged from the skull enclosed in the skin) must be thrown boldly out from the cranium, and
thus give the breadth to the face which suggested the specific name.”
“ The hairs constituting the fur, are, on the back, grey at the root, then yellowish brown, and this is
followed by a long space in each hair which is white, and this again is succeeded by black, that being the
colour of the tips of the hairs ; the white portion, showing conspicuously, gives the upper parts of the body
the appearance of being distinctly pencilled with that hue; on the under parts of the body each hair is
pale grey at the root, and dusky white externally; the feet are dirty white, indistinctly grizzled with
brownish ; this latter tint being most distinct on the sides of the toes: the ears are short and rounded,
externally clothed with longish hairs, which are partly brown and partly white, and internally with hairs
which are of a dirty white.”
The figures are of the natural size.