CHAPTER XII. 

 POUCHED MAMMALS, OR MARSUPIALS. 



IN the preceding chapter the reader was introduced to 

 the living representatives of the Egg-laying Mammals, 

 collectively forming the group to which zoologists apply 

 the name of Monotremes. In the present chapter it 

 is our intention to bring before his notice another and 

 much larger group of Mammals, forming one step 

 higher in the zoological scale, and like the Monotremes 

 characteristic of Australia and some of the adjacent 

 islands, although having one outlying family in America. 

 These creatures are known as the Pouched Mammals, 

 or, in scientific phrase, Marsupials, the name being 

 derived from the pouch (Latin marsupiitm) in which 

 the greater number of the species carry their helpless 

 young for a long period after they have first been 

 introduced into the world; this peculiar method of 

 nursing being familiar to all who have seen the 

 Kangaroos in the Zoological Society's Gardens. This 

 pouch is not, however, universally present throughout 

 the group, so that it cannot be taken as the especial 

 characteristic feature of all the members ; and we are 



thus driven to find some other character which will 



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