NOTE-BOOK OF A NATUEALIST. 163 



ence of irritation. I have in vain looked for that attach- 

 ment to their keepers, and to those who are kind to them, 

 which characterizes the more highly developed quadru- 

 manes and quadrupeds in captivity ; and their manners 

 seem to remind the observer of the reptilian rather than 

 of the mammalian class. The wombat's loud serpentine 

 hiss, when provoked, cannot fail to raise this idea in the 

 mind of any generalizing naturalist who hears it ; and 

 as for the kanguroo, its larynx absolutely wants the 

 necessary apparatus for producing a vocalized sound, to 

 which the noise that the animal emits bears no resem- 

 blance. 



The brain in these creatures is in accordance with the 

 stupidity which renders them so unlike those mammi- 

 ferous quadrupeds in which that organ exhibits a more 

 advanced state of development. The examination of 

 those marsupials that have fallen under the notice of 

 comparative anatomists, indicates the impossibility of 

 their manifesting those qualities which have so deservedly 

 endeared the dog to man. They have no corpus callo- 

 siim; and, without being very presumptuous, that por- 

 tion of the brain maybe pronounced, upon the authority 

 of those who have not leaped to conclusions, but have 

 humbly and patiently drawn them from a long course of 

 study and experiment, to be the principal seat of memory. 

 This defect at once accounts for the stupidity and want 

 of attachment above alluded to. These marsupials seem 

 to have just as much intelligence as will enable them to 

 perform the animal functions, and no more. One of the 

 thylacines in the Regent's Park, when shut out of its 

 dormitory, spent his time in walking round and round in 

 a narrow circle, without even examining the extent or 

 nature of his j^lace of confinement, or expatiating : no, 

 he went round and round, as if he had not sense to do 

 anything more. 



But we must introduce this brute form more particu- 

 larly to our friends. 



