492 



ZOOLOGY 



SECT. 



mandible sends inwards a remarkable process (ang.), and is said 

 to be inflected 



In the pectoral arch of the Marsupials the coracoid process is, 

 as usual, developed from a special bony centre, and a distinct suture 

 is often recognisable between it and the scapula until a compara- 

 tively late stage. A clavicle is always present, except in the 

 Bandicoots, but may be incomplete. There is never a distinct 

 centrale in the carpus. In the Opossums the ilium has the 

 primitive form of a straight, three-sided rod. In the Kangaroos 

 (Fig. 1062, il.) it is still simple and three-sided, but somewhat 

 curved outwards ; in the rest it is more or less compressed. In 

 nearly all the Marsupials there is a pair of epi-pubic or marsupial 

 bones (Fig. 1062, epi.) elongated and compressed bones which 

 articulate posteriorly with the anterior edge of the pubes. In the 

 Thylacine they are represented only by small unossified fibro- 

 cartilages. In the leg the fibula is always well-developed. In 



p. max 



-ejc.oc 



l # 



FIG. 106-j. Skull of Wombat (PTiascolomys fon/titi/') (lateral view). Letters as in Fig. 10(>:3. 

 In addition, ext. ud. opening of bony auditory meatus ; coiid. condyle of mandible. 



the Phalangers (Fig. 1066) and the Koala there is always a con- 

 siderable range of movement between it and the tibia, comparable 

 in some degree to the movements of pronation and supination of 

 the radius and ulna. The foot (Fig. 1067), as already stated in 

 the account of the external characters, presents a much greater 

 range of modification than the manus. 



Skeleton of Edentata. In the Armadillos more or fewer of 

 the cervical vertebras are ankylosed together both by their bodies 

 and by their neural arches. In the lumbar region the meta- 

 pophyses are greatly prolonged longer than the transverse pro- 

 cesses and support the bony carapace. A remarkable peculiarity 

 of the spinal column in the Armadillos is the fusion of a number 

 of the anterior caudal vertebrae with the true sacrals to form the 

 long sacrum, containing as many as ten vertebrae altogether 

 (Fig. 1077\ The caudal region is of moderate length ; there are 



