es On a 7ieiu Genus of Mammaliu. 



lictcl occasionally. They then sent for the hircarrab, and 

 loid hiai that they suspected the cause of tlte delay, and were 

 resolved, if the procession did not immediately set out, to 

 kill themselves before him. Their relatives now gave up the 

 pomt in despair. The other chiefs, who had taken no part 

 Ivitheito, now interfered, and said they had a right to be in- 

 i]iili;cd, and should noc be restrained. The hircari-ah re- 

 tival, and the procession set out. The younger and regular 

 wife mourned the pile on which the body of the deceased 

 resient liad been placed, and they were consumed together. 

 The fate of the other, who was not entitled to this distinc- 

 tion, was, in appearance, more dreadi'ul. A pit eight feet 

 deep, and six in diameter, had been dug a few yards distant 

 iVoni the pile ; it was filled with combustible matter, and 

 fire set to it. Whfn the flames were at the fiercest, 

 lire was applied to the pile in which the young widow and 

 the iwdv of the regt-nt had been enclosed. The other, un- 

 supported, walked thrice round the pit, and, after making 

 obeisance to the pile, threw herseU into the midst of the 

 fiimes, and was no more heard or seen ! 



V- Memoir on a Jiew Genus of Mammalia vifh PoudicSy 

 namtd Feraineles. By E. Geoffrov*. 



X HE animals with pouches which first engaged the at- 

 tention of naturalists are, as is well known, natives of 

 America. Tli^y are carnivorous animals, which easily catch 

 their prcv bv means of their long canine tcelh, and divide 

 it by employing their molar teeth, which, are laterally com- 

 pressed and terminated by three points. Like the apes of 

 iht same country, they can make use of their hind feet as 

 a hand, tiie thumb being at the same distance from the 

 other toes, and suspend themselves by means of their long 

 till, which is naked and covered with scales, 'i'licy are 

 more particularly characterized also by being the only mam- 

 malia which have ten incisor teeth in the upper jaw and 

 eight in the lower. 



Linna;us mentions these animals under the name of the 

 dtdelpha. T\\\r denomination, by expressing that they are 

 provided with two matrices, has the advantage of bringing 

 to rcui nibrance one of the. most remarkable facts of their 

 orsanization, the cxisteni.-e of a pouch under the belly of 

 tlvc females, wher'> the gestation begun in the real matrix is 

 in some measure completed. 



* Fiono Annuldi uu Muuum National d'Hiitoire N.ilwelJt-, no. 19- 



The 



