Kangaroos. 



81 



of the body a pouch wherein the young are received 

 and sheltered after their birth. This pouch is sup- 

 ported by two bones (fig. 37, ///,) FIG. 37 . 

 similar to those described in 

 connection with the pelvis of 

 the Monctremes ; to these bones 

 the name marsupial bones has 

 been given, but they exist in the 

 pouchless males as well as in 

 the pouch-bearing females. All 

 the marsupials are clad with 

 thick fur, and they are armed 

 with claw-bearing toes, two of 

 which on the hind foot tend 

 to become very small and united 

 within a common web of skin. 

 They exhibit many characters 

 of inferiority to the other mam- 

 mals ; thus the two lateral lobes 

 of the fore -brain are nearly 

 smooth on the surface and are 

 imperfectly united together, and the young are born 

 in an exceedingly rudimental state. 



The marsupials vary very much in habit, and are 

 modified to suit these habits. Thus, the Tasmanian 

 devil and Tasmanian wolf are flesh-eaters, with sharp 

 claws and sharp strong teeth (fig. 35). The opossums 

 of America are insect-eaters, and have sharp and 

 numerous teeth ; they are the only marsupials which 

 live outside the great Australian region, to which 

 all the others are confined, and of which they are 

 almost the sole mammalian inhabitants. Some of 



G 



Pelvis of kangaroo, 

 marsupial bones; 62, ilium. 



