the Wombat and Tasmanian Devil. 169 



nettii. In Macropus giganteus it is, however, inseparable 

 from the crurgeus ; but in Phalangista, Perameles, Didelphys^ 

 Sarcophilus and Phascolomys it is nearly inseparable from the 

 externus. 



The patella is mentioned as absent in the Wombat by Sir 

 E. Home (Phil. Trans, vol. xcviii. 1808, p. 304) ; in reality it 

 is present, but cartilaginous. 



The popliteus in the Wombat and Sat'cojjhtlus is very large, 

 but thin, arising from the upper third of the back of the fibula 

 and inserted into the lower two-thirds of the back of the tibia, 

 separate from the transverse tibio-fibular muscle to be here- 

 after described. A few fibres of this muscle in Sarco- 

 philus are attached to the sesamoid bone in the outer head of 

 the gastrocnemius. This muscle is smaller in the Giant Kan- 

 garoo, but in this and Macropus Bennettii its origin is purely 

 sesamoid. 



The adductor longus arises, in the Wombat and Sarcophilus, 

 from the crest of the pubis, and is inserted into the middle 

 third of the femur. The adductor brevis and magnus are 

 rarely separable in either Sarcojyhilus or Wombat. In the 

 Giant Kangaroo the three are easily separable, as also in the 

 Wallaby. The adductor brevis is scarcely distinguishable from 

 the adductor magnus in the Opossum, and less so in Fha- 

 langista. These muscles are always separate from the pecti- 

 neus, internal and posterior to which they lie ; the three por- 

 tions are most distinct in the Opossum. 



The pectineus is a small muscle, but double in the Wombat ; 

 the inner part passes from the spine of the pubis and marsupial 

 bone to the line leading from the lesser trochanter to the linea 

 aspera ; a second portion passes close to the insertion of the 

 psoas and iliacus external to the last. This muscle is similarly 

 double in Sarcophilus ; it is single in the Giant Kangaroo, 

 Opossum, and Phalanger, small and definite in each. The slip 

 from the marsupial bone exists in all marsupials which have 

 hitherto been dissected. 



The semimembranosus is fleshy for its whole extent in the 

 Wombat and Sarcophilus^ and has its normal course from the 

 tuber ischii to the upper and inner part of the head of the 

 tibia ; it is closely in contact with the adductor magnus in the 

 Giant Kangaroo ; and in the Wallaby its origin extends farther 

 forward than usual ; it is closely connected to the senlitendi- 

 nosus in its origin in the Virginian Opossum, but separate in 

 Phalangista vulpina and Perameles lagotis. 



The semitendinosus in both Sarcophilus and the Wombat 

 is normal in its course, quite separate from its neighbours, and 



Ann.&Mag.N.ITist. Scr. 4. VvJ.x. 12 



