496 ZOOLOGY 



the third and fourth of the fore-foot provided with remarkable, 

 large, flat, triangular claws. The tail is short and covered with 

 bare skin. An auditory pinna is absent and the eyes are vestigial. 

 The pouch opens backwards. 



The Wombats (Phascolomyidce, Fig. 1111) are large, heavy, 

 thick-bodied, burrowing animals, with short, flattened heads, short, 

 thick limbs, provided with strong claws on all the digits except 

 the hallux, and with the second, third and fourth toes of the hind- 

 foot partly connected together by skin. The tail is very short. The 

 Kangaroos and their allies (Macropodidee, Fig. 1109) are adapted, 

 as regards their limbs, for swift terrestrial locomotion. They 

 have a relatively small head and neck, the fore -limbs small, and 

 each provided with five digits ; the hind-legs long and powerful ; 

 rapid progression is effected by great springing leaps, with 

 the body inclined forwards and the fore-limbs clear of the ground. 

 The foot is narrow and provided with four toes, the hallux being- 

 absent ; the two inner (second and third) small and united 

 together by integument, while the middle toe is very long 

 and powerful. The tail is very long, and usually thick. There 

 is a large marsupium. The Tree-Kangaroos differ from the 



FIG. 1111. Wombat (Pkascolomys wombat). (From the Cambridge Natural History.) 



ordinary Kangaroos in their shorter and thicker hind-limbs, 

 in which the second and third toes are nearly as large as the 

 fourth. 



The Phalangers (Phalangeridce) are climbing Marsupials which 

 have both fore- and hind-feet prehensile ; the second and third 

 toes of the hind-foot slender and united by a web, as in the 

 Kangaroo, but the hallux, which is nailless, opposable to them ; 



