ON NORTH AMERICAN ZOOLOGY. 149 



Kamschatka. Of the otarice which also frequent the sea just 

 named, juhata is said, though without satisfactory evidence, to 

 exist also in the Straits of Magalhaes. O. Stellerl is very im- 

 perfectly known, even the genus to which it belongs being un- 

 certain. The existence of the otaria fasciculata, or the " rib- 

 bon seal", is surmised merely because a piece of back-skin was 

 transmitted from the Kurile islands to Pennant, and figured by 

 him in the History of Quadrupeds. 



The trichechus rosmarus is found in all the arctic seas, though 

 there are some deep sounds, such as Regent's and Bathurst's 

 Inlets, into which it does not enter. It descends along the 

 Labrador coast to the Magdalene islands, in the 47th parallel. 



Or(^. MARSUPIATA*. 



Didelphis virginiana, Griff. Cuv. pi. Didelphis cancrivora, Griff. Cuv. pi. 



„ opossum, Buff. 10, 45, 46. 



As the marsupial animals are now confined to America, New 

 Holland, and some parts of the Indian archipelago, and geologi- 

 cal researches indicate that they are the earliest mammiferous 

 animals whose remains exist in the ancient strata of the earth, 

 the study of these zoological provinces must be interesting to 

 those who seek to develope the condition of the world at former 

 periods. Comparative anatomists have shown that the marsu- 

 jiiata are inferior to other mmnmalia in their simple unconvc- 

 luted brain, less perfect organs of voice, and lower intelligence ; 

 the rodentia are next to them in these respects ; and the exist- 

 ence of marsiqnata and the great numbers of rodentia in the 

 North American fauna are its chief characteristics when con- 

 trasted with that of Europe. It has been said that when the 

 ancient marsujriata existed they were exposed to the attacks 

 of no enemy having higher intellectual powers than a reptile. 

 In the present day the opossums of America and the plialangers 

 of India have many enemies of different classes, yet they do not 

 seem to be in any immediate danger of extinction ; and the 

 more numerous marsupials of Australia are kept sufficiently 

 under by carnivorous beasts of their own order, aided by birds 



• Though Cuvier has arranged the marsuptata as an order, lie considers it 

 rather as forming a division, or subclass, parallel to the rest of the mammalia, 

 and representing all the other orders. Mr. Owen agrees with him in obser- 

 ving, that " the marsupials, including the monotremes, form a very complete 

 series, adapted to the assimilation of every form of organic matter." M. Des- 

 moulins and Mr. Swainson have distributed them among the several orders, 

 esteeming what Cuvier supposed to be merely analogies to be in reality affini- 

 ties. The didelphidcB being carnivorous, are not, in either view of the matter, 

 out of place at the end of the carnivora. 



