MARSUPIALIA. 319 



Many are exceedingly like the Insectivora in the structure of their 

 teeth, but possess a much greater number, and the incisors especially 

 are more numerous than in true placental mammals, being in some 

 cases ten above and eight below. They possess canines also, and sharply 

 tubercled molars. Such are the Opossums, PERAMELID.E, Perameles, 

 Didelphis, Myrmecobius, &c. They mostly possess a small caecum. 



Others with fewer and more powerful teeth represent the Carnivora, 

 and these want the caecum. Such are the DASYURID^E, Dasyurus, 

 Thylacinus, Sarcophilus, and others, popularly called Wild Cats, Wolves, 

 or Hyaenas, and native Devils. 



Others have two large and long incisors in the lower jaw, with pointed 

 and trenchant edges sloping forwards, and six corresponding teeth in 

 their upper jaw. The upper canines are long and pointed. Their diet 

 is chiefly frugivorous, and their intestines long, with a large caecum. 

 Such are the Phalangers and Petaurists, PHALANGISTID^E, Phalangista 

 and Petaurus, &c., which, in spite of their numerous teeth, would, in 

 many ways, really appear to represent the Rodents. The Wombat 

 indeed, Phascolomys, fam. PHASCOLOMYIDJE, is a true Rodent as to its 

 teeth. It has a caecum with a vermiform appendage. 



Some of large size, the Kangaroos, MACROPODID^E, Macropus, Halma- 

 turus, and others, have the stomach complicated, formed of two elongated 

 sacs inflated in places, and the caecum also large and inflated. They want 

 the upper canines, and the middle incisors are short. Their fore-feet 

 are diminutive, but the hind limbs are much developed, and with a nail 

 like a hoof. They are gentle herbivorous animals, living in troops, and 

 making enormous leaps. They would appear to faintly shadow forth 

 the Ruminants. 



Lastly, some want teeth altogether, and were included by Cuvier 

 among the Edentata, but are now, by universal consent, placed among 

 Marsupials, as they possess the marsupial bones, though without a 

 pouch. Such are the celebrated Duck-bill, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, 

 and the curious Spiny Echidna, sometimes placed in a distinct sub-class 

 from Marsupials, viz , Monotremata, as they possess only one external 

 opening for all their excretions. In this and other points they somewhat 

 resemble birds, and at one time were thought to be oviparous, but that 

 is of course erroneous. 



