MAESUPIALIA. 761 



Duck, whence the name of " Duck-bill," whereby it is usually distin- 

 guished. It has, moreover, a distinct furcular bone in addition to what 



Fig. 383. 



Skeleton of Ornithorynchus paradoxus. 



would seem to be the ordinary clavicles ; but in reality these are the 

 coracoid bones still largely developed. Moreover, the anterior or sternal 

 ribs are ossified, and a spur is attached to the hind foot of the male, not 

 remotely resembling that of a Cock : this last appendage is perforated 

 by a duct, and has a gland connected with it, situated on the inner side 

 of the thigh, by which a poisonous secretion was formerly supposed to 

 be elaborated. 



(2187.) The MARSUPIALIA, it will be afterwards explained, as regards 

 the conformation of their generative system, are organized in accordance 

 with a type intermediate between that common to Birds and that which 

 characterizes Mammalia properly so called. 



(2188.) The Marsupial quadrupeds bring forth their young alive, but 

 in such an imperfect condition, that at the period of their birth scarcely 

 the rudiments of their limbs have become apparent ; and in this state 

 they are conveyed into a pouch formed by the skin of the female's 

 abdomen, where they fix themselves by their mouths to the nipples of 

 their mother, and, sucking milk, derive from this source the materials 

 for their growth. These animals are peculiar to the Australian and 

 American continents ; nay, in Australia, so anomalous in all its pro- 

 ductions, with one or two exceptions, and those perhaps brought there 

 by accidental importation, all the quadrupeds are constructed after the 

 Marsupial type. The great characteristic whereby to distinguish the 

 skeleton of a Marsupial Mammifer is, the existence of two peculiar 

 bones attached to the anterior margin of the pubis, which in the living 

 animal are imbedded in the muscular walls of the abdomen, and thus 

 support the pouch of the female. The marsupial bones, however, exist 

 in the male likewise ; and even in the MOITOTREMATA, that are evidently 

 nearly allied to the proper MARSUPIALIA, although no pouch is met with 

 even in the female sex, the bones alluded to are found connected with 

 the pubis. 



(2189.) This great section of the Vertebrate creation, which perhaps 



