178 



fruntedby the 

 New-Hol- 

 landers. 



It* habits. 



'The wombat 

 ha^ been in 

 part described. 



Peculiarities of 

 its hind legs. 



ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE OF THE WOMBAT; 



ruminating, sometimes fiery and menacing; it bears no smart 

 resemblance to the bear in the tore port of its body ; it had 

 no tail; its posture for the most part is sitting. 



The New Hollanders eat the flesh of this animal, and 

 therefore readily join in the pursuit of it; they examine 

 frith wonderful rapidity and minuteness the branches of the 

 loftiest gum trees; upon discovering the koala, they climb 

 the tree in which it i» seen with as much ease and expedition 

 as a European would mount a tolerably high ladder. Hav- 

 ing reached the branches, which are sometimes forty orlifty 

 feet from the ground, they follow the animal to the extre- 

 mity of a bough, and either kill it with the tomahawk, or 

 take it alive. The koala feeds upon the tender shoots of 

 the blue gum tree, being more particularly fond of this than 

 of any other food; it rests during the day on the tops of 

 these trees, feeding at its ease, or sleeping. In the night it 

 descends and prowls about, scratching up the ground in 

 search of some particular roots; it seems to creep rather 

 than walk: when incensed or hungry, it utters a long shrill 

 yell, and assumes a fierce and menacing look. They are 

 found in pairs, and the young is carried by the mother on 

 its shoulders* This animal appears soon to form an attach- 

 ment to the person who feeds it. 



A specimen of this animal has since been sent to me in 

 spirits; the viscera had been removed, but the male organs 

 of generation, and the structure of the limbs, were the same 

 as in the wombat. There was no subdivision of vessels in 

 the groin as in the tardigrade animals. 



The external form of the wombat has been described by 

 Mr. Geoffroy in the second volume of the Annales du Mu- 

 seum National de France ; and several parts of its internal 

 sti ucture have been taken notice of by Mr. Cuvier in his 

 Lemons d'Anatomie comparee. It only remains to mention 

 such peculiarities as have either been slightly touched upon, 

 or entirely passed over in the different accounts. Among 

 these is the mechanism of the bones and muscles of the 

 hind legs, which differs in many respects from that of all 

 other animals, except the koala. The following account of 

 it is drawn up at my desire by Mr. Brodie, from an accu- 

 rate examination of the parts. 



« Ther* 



