THE ANNALS 



MAGAZIiNE OF NATURAL HLSTORY. 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 

 No. 27. MARCH 1870. 



XVI. — Oji the Myology of the Wombat (Phascolomys wom- 

 bata) and the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus ursinus). By 

 Alexander Macalister, Professor of Zoology and Di- 

 rector of the Museum, University of Dublin *. 



Through the kindness of Professor Ilaughton, I have recently 

 had the opportunity of making, with his assistance, a careful 

 dissection of the two above-named marsupials. They were 

 both salted specimens, but in excellent preservation. The 

 Wombat Avas 33 inches long, and was an adult female full- 

 groAvm ; it had a young one in its pouch surrounded by shreds 

 of a membrane, but of what nature could not be ascertained. 

 The embryo was 1 inch and 2 lines in length. 



The Tasmanian Devil was about 27 inches long and in 

 good condition ; it was also a female, but not fully gi*own,the 

 hinder molar teeth were not cut. The muscles of the wombat 

 were firm and red ; those of the native Devil were softer and 

 paler, but still distinct. The dense pig-like skin of the Wom- 

 bat was with difficulty taken off, as the subjacent tissue was 

 dense and fimi. The platysma and panniculus carnosus in 

 both are weak and undefined. 



The trapezius of the Wombat arises from the occipital ridge, 

 from the cervical spines and ligamentum nuchffi, and from the 

 seven upper dorsal spines ; it stretches as an undivided mus- 

 cular sheet to the spine of the scapula and tlie acromion pro- 

 cess. The anterior fibres were not attached to the clavicle, 

 but, gliding over it, replaced the clavicular deltoid, and were 

 inserted into the deltoid crest of the humerus, overlying the 

 great pectoral. There was no tendinous intersection over the 

 line of the clavicle, although such a line often exists when 



• Communicated bv the Author, having been read before the Royal 

 Zoological Society of Ireland. 



Ann. d: Man. X. Hist, ^^r A. Vol. v. 11 



