186 POUCHED MAMMALS 



Of these eight Families, only two, the first and seventh, 

 will be specially noticed. 



Marsupials are distinguished from all other mammals by 

 the fact that the female possesses in the skin of her abdomen 

 a large, flexible pocket, or pouch, in which the nursing glands 

 are situated, and in which the young are carried for a time 

 after birth, until more fully developed. They differ from 

 ordinary mammals in being without what is called a pla-cen'ta, 

 which is an arrangement of veins by which the blood of the 

 mother circulates through the veins of the unborn young. 

 In other words, in a marsupial, the blood of the mother does 

 not circulate through the veins of the unborn young. As a 

 result, at the time of its birth, the young marsupial is a 

 tiny creature, haifliess, blind and utterly helpless. Even the 

 young of a large kangaroo looks more like a little lump of 

 jelly than a highly organized living creature. One which I 

 saw in the London Zoological Gardens was less than an inch 

 in length, and no thicker than a lead-pencil. 



The newly born young is taken by the mother, in her 

 front paws, and placed in her pouch; and the half -formed 

 creature, with a mouth specially formed for suction, attaches 

 itself to the nursing gland, and so remains for many days, or 

 even weeks. Slowly it grows, until it develops hair, and its 

 eyes open. At length it becomes large enough so that it 

 ventures to stick its little head out and view the world. By 

 and by it climbs out to take exercise, but jumps back again 

 at the first alarm. In an animal which travels as far each 

 day as the kangaroo, a pouch for the conveyance of the young 

 is a great convenience. 



