12 TSATURAL HISTORY SKETCHES. 



T\vo ounces of kangaroo-shot from my gun, however, 

 stopped the eagle's gallop : I might have killed the old 

 kangaroo as well, but had not the heart, after seeing the 

 struggle she was making to save the life of her offspring. 



It is a curious fact that these marsupial animals 

 should be exclusively confined to Australia, a country 

 which, as regards zoology and botany, stands lower in 

 the scale of creation, according to geologists, than any 

 other. It is true that the racoon and opossum of 

 America belong to this class ; but they are only mar- 

 supial in a mean degree. The breeding habits of these 

 animals were long a matter of doubt, and for a while it 

 was hard to determine in what class they should be 

 included. The peculiar formation of the generative 

 organs was in itself enough to puzzle the best ana- 

 tomists, nor was it likely that much light could be 

 thrown on the subject by those men who, till lately, 

 had the only opportunities of studying their habits in a 

 state of nature. Much has been cleared up, but much 

 still remains hidden in mystery. What always puzzled me 

 the most was (knowing as I did their breeding habits) how 

 close the young foetus become attached to, or, more pro- 

 perly speaking, grow on a teat, in a pouch outside the sto- 

 mach. I have killed old doe kangaroos at all seasons, and 

 always during the period of gestation havefound the young 

 one tightly glued on to the teat by the mouth, even when 

 scarcely so long as my finger. But I never by any chance 

 found the rudiments of a young one inside the stomach. 



By some naturalists these marsupial animals are placed 



