INTRODUCTION. 47 



Ornithorhynchus, to which lie applied the name 

 Platypus anatinus* Another extraordinary animal, 

 closely allied to the last, the Echidna, was also first 

 described by him. The Marsupiata, however, were 

 left in a great state of confusion by Shaw, species of 

 different groups being confounded, and the same 

 animal in some cases placed in different orders. It is 

 to Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire that we are indebted for a 

 revision of the group, and for the first clear definitions 

 of many of the genera. His papers on this subject 

 will be found in the earlier volumes of the <e Annales 

 du Museum ; " here he characterizes the genera 

 Dasyurus, Perameles, and Phascolomys ; and subse- 

 quently, Illiger, Cuvier, De Blainville, Temminck, and 

 others, have extended the number of the genera. To 

 the last of these authors we are indebted for some 

 excellent monographs on the genera Didelphys, 

 Dasyurus, and PhalangistaJr 



Nearly all the principal forms as yet discovered in 

 the Marsupiata were known as early as the begin- 

 ning of the present century ; or, I may say at the 

 end of the past century, types of but three genera 

 Lipurus (or Phascolacrtos), Myrmecobius and Choe- 

 ropus having been added since that time. The 

 number of species, however, has been greatly aug- 

 mented, and much additional information relating to 

 those already described by the earlier authors, has 



* Blumbenbach nearly at the same time (the exact date 

 of his first account I am unable to procure) gave to this 

 animal the name Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. 



f " Monographies de mammalogie," by C. J. Temminck. 



