108 MARSU1MAL1A, 



weapon of these animals consists of the large claw of the hind 

 foot, which is lengthened, strong, and armed with a hoof-like 

 nail. With this they can inflict a severe blow ; their eyes are 

 full and bright ; the mouth small ; the ears large and pointed ; 

 the fore paws are divided into five fingers, armed with nails for 

 scratching or digging ; the hind feet have five toes, but the two 

 inner ones are very small, and so united in their whole length 

 under the skin as to appear but one. The Great Kangaroo in- 

 habits New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, and is about five 

 feet without the tail, the length of which is about three feet. 

 The female, like the Opossum, carries the young about in its 

 pouch, from which they emerge when they desire exercise, and 

 leap back again on the least alarm. The largest weigh 140 to 

 150 pounds. The Kangaroo's flesh is much esteemed ; it is 

 hunted in Australia with a breed of dogs between the mastiff and 

 greyhound. 



The V. family is the Rhizophaga, or ROOT EATERS, (Gr. V> 

 rhiza, root; <jxtyu), phago, to eat.) In this we find the WOMBAT, 

 Phascolomus, (Gr. yaaxufaov, phaskdlion, a pouch; pvg, mus, a 

 mouse,) Sub-family Phascolomyidae. 



This animal has been described as follows : " The Wombat, 

 or as it is called by the natives of Port Jackson, the Wornback, 

 is a squat, short, thick, short-legged, and rather inactive quadru- 

 ped, with great appearance of stumpy strength, and somewhat 

 bigger- than a large turnspit dog. Its figure and movements, if 

 they do not exactly resemble those of the bear, at least strongly 

 remind one of that animal. Its length from the tip of the tail to 

 the tip of the nose is thirty -one inches. The hair is coarse and 

 about an inch and a half in length, thinly scattered ; thinly set 

 upon the belly, thicker upon the back and head, and thicker upon 

 the loins and rump ; the color is of a light and sandy brown of 

 various shades, but darkest along the back." The Wombat will 

 not compare with the Kangaroo in swiftness of foot, as most men 

 could run it down. Its pace is a hobbling or shuffling, something 

 like the awkward gait of a bear. The flesh is said to be excel- 

 lent meat, and as it is nearly three feet in length, it is suggested 

 that it might be worth naturalizing in other climates, specimens 

 which have been taken to Europe having lived for years. 



The whole of the Marsupialia, though some are active and 

 sprightly in their manners, present but "little appearance of real 

 docility and intelligence ; and this fact, connected with the low 

 degree of development of their brain, points to their inferior 

 rank among the placental Mammalia. To denote this inferiority 

 the boundary lines of this Order are, on the chart, bent round to- 



