﻿ALLEN'S NATURALISTS LIBRARY, 



MAMMALS. 



MARSUPIALS AND MONOTREMES. 



PART I. 



THE MARSUPIALS-ORDER MARSUPIALIA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Differing widely from all other regions of the globe as regards 

 both its fauna and flora, the great island-continent of Aus- 

 tralia, together with certain of the South-eastern Austro-Malayan 

 islands, is especially characterised by being the home of the 

 great majority of that group of lowly Mammals commonly 

 designated Marsupials, or Pouched Mammals. Indeed, with 

 the exception of the few species of the still more remarkable 

 Monotremes, or Egg-laying Mammals, nearly the whole of the 

 Mammalian fauna of Australasia consists of these Marsupials, 

 the only other indigenous Mammals being certain Rodents and 

 Bats, together with the native Dog, or Dingo, which may or may 

 not have been introduced by man. All the other Orders, such 

 as the Ungulates, or Hoofed Mammals, the Apes and Lemurs, 

 and the Carnivores are conspicuous by their absence from the 

 Australian landscape, where their respective places are taken 

 by the numerous representatives of the Marsupial order, which 

 have adapted themselves to all modes of life. We have, for 

 instance, both terrestrial and arboreal types, while one form 



2 B 



