﻿2 ALLEN'S naturalist's LIBRARY. 



recently discovered passes an underground existence like the 

 Mole. Some again are carnivorous and otiiers herbivorous : 

 while among the former certain kinds live on flesh, and others 

 on insects ; an equal diversity obtaining among the vegetable- 

 feeders, some of which live on roots, others on grasses or 

 leaves, others on fruits, and yet others on honey or the juices 

 of flowers. We may notice, moreover, a curious kind of paral- 

 lelism between certain Marsupials and the Mammals of other 

 regions. For instance, the carnivorous Thylacine of Tasmania 

 so closely resembles, both in form and habits, a Wolf, tuat by 

 the colonists it is universally spoken of as the " Tasmaninn 

 Wolf"; while some of the small carnivorous forms are remark- 

 ably like Weasels and Civets. Among the vegetable-feeders, 

 on the other hand, the Wombats simulate the Marmots ; the 

 Flying Phalangers are so like Flying Squirrels that, were 

 it not for their very different front teeth, the one might 

 readily be mistaken for the other. A still more extraordinary 

 resemblance exists between certain small Mouse-like and Dor- 

 mouse-like Marsupials and the true Mice and Dormice ; this 

 being so marked as regards general external appearance, that 

 it may even at first sight deceive the practised naturalist. More 

 remote is the resemblance between the arboreal Marsupial 

 known as the Koala and a small Bear, although it is still sufli- 

 ciently marked for the Australian creature to have received 

 the name of the "Native Bear." 



Having their head-quarters in Australia and New Guinea, 

 where they form the dominant part of the Mammalian fauna, 

 and where alone the Egg-laying Mammals are met with, the Mar- 

 supials gradually diminish in number and importance in the 

 islands of the north-west, being largely mingled in Celebes and 

 the neighbouring islands with types of Mammals characteristic 

 of the Indian or Oriental region If, however, we pass westward 

 across the deep channel separating the island of Celebes from 



