ProceediiKjs. 25 



adapted to suck milk with. However, tliis difficulty is over- 

 come by the circumstance that the teat of the mother is not 

 of the ordinary type, — like that of a cow, for instance, — but 

 is actually a pit, into which the young one sticks its head. 

 These Monotremes are found only in Australia. 



The next division is that to which the animals known as 

 Marsupials belong (Lat. Marsuinum, a pouch, because they 

 possess a kind of pocket). This division inchules the Kan- 

 garoos of Australia and the Opossums of America. When 

 the young are born they are very small and weak, and though 

 they have the ordinary mammalian mouth with lips, they are 

 not strong enough to suck milk ; so the mother puts them in 

 her pocket, where the teat is, to which they immediately 

 stick, and the milk is actually squeezed into their mouth by 

 the action of muscles. "After a time," says Prof. Huxley, 

 "it gets strong enough to put its head out of the pouch. 

 Then afterwards it leaves the poiich for a little time, returning 

 to feed, and this goes on till it becomes strong enough to 

 shift for itself, when the mother dismisses it." 



The next division is that of the Edentates, a term which 

 means that the members of it have no teeth ; but this is not 

 correct, as many of them have them ; but they are not like 

 ordinary teeth ; they have no enamel, and the animal is not 

 troubled by having to cut a second set, for one set suffices 

 throughout their life. This group contains the Sloths, in- 

 habitants of South America which spend a curious life, sus- 

 pended back downward from the branches of trees, to which 

 they cling by their peculiar feet, the soles of which face 

 inwards, or, as Prof. Huxley calls them, naturally-clubbed 

 feet, aided by the long claws. These Sloths feed on leaves. 



We can hardly imagine a mode of life more unlike that of 

 the Sloths than the one followed by the Ant-eaters, another 

 branch of the Edentates. These also have club-feet armed 

 with immensely-strong and sharp claws ; but they use these not 

 for hanging from branches by, but to tear open the nests of the 

 White Ant, on which they feed. The tongue is very long and 

 narrow, and covered by a sticky secretion. They poke this into 

 the nest, and pull it out covered by Ants, which they swallow. 



