Carlisle in the past year. Tliis is the third recorded instance of 

 the occurrence of the species in England. 



The folio wing notes by Mr. Martin of a dissection of a Vulpine 

 Opossum, Phalangista Vulpina, Cuv., were read. 



" This animal, which died a short time since at the Gardens of the 

 Society, was a female. In the length of the body it measured 1 foot 

 44 inches, exclusive of the head, which from nose to occiput measured 

 34- inches : the tail somewhat exceeded 1 1 inches. There Avas no 

 abdominal pouch : the mammče were two in number, about a ąuarter 

 of an inch apart, very small, pointed, and retracted -vvithin the skin. 

 The body was loaded ■with fat, and a layer of that substance, fully 

 haJf an inch in thickness, lined the abdominal and psoas museles. 



" On leaving the pylorus, the duodenum was found to dip down 

 to about the middle lumbar vertebra, where it crossed the spine, and 

 then making an acute turn ascended till it reached the pylorus, ■vvhere 

 it again turned down abruptly, and lošt, in the convolutions of the 

 succeeding portion, or j ejunum, its distinctive appellation. 



" The stomach was large and simple, with a considerable cardiac 

 pouch ; •when distended with air, its circumference measured 8^ 

 inches, and the great curvature 13. 



" The omentum ■vvas very extensive, and loaded with fat. 

 " The pancreas was thin and indefinite, blending with the fat of 

 the mesentery. It consisted of a main portion or body lying beneath 

 the stomach, whence it spread to the mesentery, a broad slip adhering 

 to the duodenum for about 2 inches. 



" The liver was not unlike a fig-leaf in general outline, being deeply 

 split into six distinct lobes, — three on the right, and three on the left, 

 besides the lobulus Spigelii. In the middle fissure \vas seated the gall- 

 bladder, its f undus being visible in situ natūrali. Tbe shape of this 

 vesicule was, as usual, oval. It was filled with yellow bile. Its duct, 

 which measured altogether 2-į- inches, received, at about half an inch 

 from its commencement, several very small hepatic ducts, and en- 

 tered the duodenum, •vvith the pancreatic, 3 inches below the pylorus. 

 " The spleen consisted of three processes or radii from a centrai 

 body : one of these processes adhered to the cardiac portion of the 

 stomach ; another floated in the omentum ; and the third, bound by 

 the mesentery, just covered the left kidney. 



" The totai length of the intestines vras 1 1 feet 8 inches ; the 

 length of the small intestines being 6 feet 10, and of the large 4 feet 

 10. The mean diameter of the small intestines was half an inch. 

 l'he mean diameter of the large at their origin was three quarters 

 of an inch ; but they contracted as they proceeded to one quarter, 

 and the rectum subseąuently enlarged to three ąuarters. The narrow 

 part was filled with irregular knotted fceces. There were no longi- 

 tudinal bands or sacculi. The texture of the large intestines was 

 thin, and the circular fibres very distinct. The cacum was long and 

 convoluted on the mesentery, and narrowed gradually to a point ; its 

 length was 1 foot 4-J- inches. 



"The right kidney was higher than the left. The suprarenal 



