ON THE ANATOMY OF THE KOALA. 173 



34. ON SOME POINTS IN THE ANATOMY OF THE p - z - 

 KOALA (PHASCOLARCTOS CINEREUS}* 



ON April 28th of last year (1880), as already recorded in the Society's 



Proceedings t, the Society purchased for its collection the first living 



Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) ever brought to Europe. The animal, a 



young female, continued to do well and thrive after its arrival at the 



Gardens, and on a diet of Eucalyptus-leaves, which were substituted 



after a while for the dried ones on which it had been kept alive during 



the voyage and the first part of its stay in this country, became daily 



in better condition and more active. Being a pet animal, accustomed to 



being caressed, it was thought better not to put it in a cage ; so a room 



for its use was fitted up in the Superintendent's office. Here, under the 



charge of a special attendant, it slept, perched upon the branches of a P- Z. S. 1881, 



tree erected for its use, by day, whilst at night it wandered about the 



room. Very unfortunately, on the night of the 14th of June it was 



accidentally killed, whilst thus roaming about at night, by getting caught 



between the top and bottom of a fixed washing-stand, which had been 



allowed to remain in the room. It had apparently climbed up this and 



brought down on its neck the heavy lid. Nobody being near, and in 



spite of evidently determined struggles on its own part, it failed to relieve 



itself, and so was found dead in the morning from asphyxia. 



The death of this animal, so unfortunate for visitors to the Society's 

 Gardens, has given me the opportunity of putting on record some 

 additional facts concerning the anatomy of the soft parts of this species. 

 Mr. W. Martin, in this Society's 'Proceedings' for 1836 1, has described 

 already some of the most striking features of the animal's organization ; 

 and in Prof. Owen's ' Anatomy of Vertebrates ' (vol. iii.) a few additional 

 facts concerning it are also recorded. More recently Mr. A. H. Young 

 has described and figured the male reproductive organs (Journ. Anat. 

 Phys. xiii. pp. 305-317, pi. xviii.). All these anatomists, however, had 

 only spirit-preserved specimens to work on ; a few additional observations 

 from the fresh specimen may therefore be worth putting on record, and 

 the liver, brain, and female reproductive organs described in particular, 

 these important parts of the system having been only imperfectly, or 

 not at all, described by my predecessors in this field. 



The following dimensions were taken on the body of the animal : 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, pp. 180-195. Read Jan. 18, 1881. 



t P. Z. S. 1880, p. 355; where a woodcut of it, from the pencil of Mr. Wood, is 

 given. 



t P.Z.S. 1836, pp. 109-113. 



