ON THE ANATOMY OP THE KOALA. 175 



mouth. The skin lining the pouch, except just around the ventral 

 opening of the pouch, is smooth throughout. 



The mucous membrane of the cheeks is smooth throughout ; the skin 

 is attached to the gum opposite the first palatal ridge, and again opposite 

 the posterior border of the first premolar. Between these two attach- 

 ments there is formed a sort of cheek-pouch, defined by a distinct 

 sphincter, and capable of receiving the end of the little finger. This 

 pouch extends upwards on the side of the skull, occupying the somewhat 

 oval space that exists, in the macerated skull, in front of the zygoma ; it 

 is lined by smooth, white, mucous membrane*. 



The palate presents 9 irregular raised ridges, best marked anteriorly. 

 There is no uvula, and the narrow fauces are smooth. The tongue quite 

 fills up the space between the gums. It is parallel-sided and elongated, but 

 rounded off and thinner in front. It has a single, small, circumvallate 

 papilla behind ; the fungiform papillae are distributed chiefly along the 

 sides of the upper surface. 



The salivary glands are well developed. The sublingual (which is not 

 mentioned by Martin in his description) is a long, narrow, and thin 

 gland, somewhat foliaceous at the extremity, and about 2-7 inches in 

 extent, lying deeply along the inner margin of the lower jaw. The long 

 duct of the submaxillary gland pierces it. I could find no subzygomatic 

 gland, as described by him (1. c. p. 112). 



On opening the abdominal cavity the stomach is visible in the epigastric p.z. s. 1881, 

 and left hypochondriac regions, the pylorus being directed towards the P- 183. 

 right side ; and it is there in contact with the gall-bladder. The liver 

 does not appear. The commencement of the transverse colon is visible, 

 running downwards towards the left, below, but parallel with, the greater 

 curvature of the stomach. The great omentum is atttached to the 

 transverse colon in the right hypochondrium, and does not cover the 

 mass of the viscera. The greater part of the rest of the abdominal cavity 

 is occupied by the great, longitudinally plicated, folds of the caecum and 

 caecum-like ascending colon, a few folds of the small intestine appearing 

 between the transverse colon and a great fold, apparently the caecum, 

 which runs transversely across the middle of the abdominal cavity. On 

 turning back these great superficial folds the end of the caecum is seen 

 passing downwards to the left of the rectum, behind the uteri and bladder, 

 to terminate, deep in the pelvic cavity, close to the cloaca! The 

 descending colon, which is narrow and of the ordinary appearance, is 

 very long, and is arranged on a broad mesocolon to the right of the 

 vertebral column, forming here a series of loose loops, which, however, 

 are not closely coiled together on each other as in Ruminants. The 



* These pouches are also, I find, described by Owen (Anat. Vert. iii. p. 385). 

 They also exist, though less well defined by a sphincter, in the Wombat ; but I cannot 

 find them in the other Phalangers I have examined. 



