56 INTRODUCTION. 



into two sub-classesj — the first, " Monodelphes," con- 

 tains all the ordinary placental quadrupeds, and the 

 second, " Didelphes" is composed of the Marsupiata. 

 The '' Didelphes" are thus sub-divided : — 



{Normal. . . ( Didelphidce. 

 I Phalangistidcs. { Rod"enr°^^' 

 f Echidna. j Burrowing. 



Abnormal. . XOrnUhorhynchus. \SyfimTa'mg. 



This classification was published in 1822; but 

 some years afterwards, (in the Cours de la Faculte 

 des Sciences, 1834,) he separated the Echidna and 

 Ornithorhynchusfrom the Marsupiata, ov" Didelphes," 

 and formed with them a third sub-class, to which he 

 gave the name Ornithodelphes. 



Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire regarded the Marsupial 

 animals as constituting a distinct group, which, like 

 Cuvier, he placed between the Carnivora and Roden- 

 tia ; indeed, this situation for the animals in question 

 was originally suggested by Geoffroy.* 



The most recent classification of the present group 

 is that of Professor Owen, communicated to the 

 Zoological Society in January 1839, and published, 

 in abstract, in that Society's proceedmgs, (Part vii., 

 p. 5.) 



The following is a tabular view of this Anatomist's 

 distribution of the various groups of which the 

 Marsupiata is composed. 



* See his observations on the Wombat, in the Annales des 

 Museum, vol. ii., p. 364, published in 1803. 



