MAE 



[ 280 J 



MAR 



resembling that of other newly-born 

 animals. The skin of the animal 

 is so arranged round the mammaB 

 as to form a pouch in which not 

 only the imperfect foetus, attached 

 to the nipple by its mouth, re- 

 mains till fully developed, but 

 into which, long after it is able 

 to run about, it leaps when 

 alarmed, or when wishing to 

 couceal itself. The order Marsu- 

 piala holds an intermediate place 

 between viviparous and oviparous 

 animals, forming a link, as it were, 

 between Mammalia and Reptiles. 

 The order Marsupialia contains 

 many genera, both herbivorous and 

 carnivorous. The kangaroo and 

 opossum are familiar examples. 

 Another peculiarity in these ani- 

 mals consists in this ; that the 

 members of two litters are some- 

 times sucking at the same time. 

 The New Holland opossums are 

 very voracious, and devour carcas- 

 ses as well as insects ; they enter 

 into the houses, where their vora- 

 city is very troublesome. That 

 most common, the Didelphys Vir- 

 giniana, attacks poultry in the night, 

 and sucks their eggs. It is said to 

 produce sixteen young ones in one 

 litter, which, when first born, 

 do not weigh more than one grain 

 each; though blind and almost 

 shapeless, when placed in the 

 pouch they instinctively find the 

 nipple, and adhere to it till they 

 attain the size of a mouse, which 

 does not take place till they are 

 are fifty days old, at which period 

 they begin to see. The discovery 

 of marsupials, both in the secondary 

 and tertiary formations, shows that, 

 so far from being of more recent 

 introduction than other orders of 

 Mammalia, this order is in reality 

 the first and most ancient condition, 

 under which animals of this class 

 appeared upon our planet, and as 

 far as our present discoveries go, it 

 was their only form during the 

 secondary period. 



MAESUPIOCETNI'TES. (from 



Gr. marsupium, Lat. a purse, and 

 Kplvov, Gr. a lily.) The name 

 given by Mr. Phillips to a genus of 

 encrinites belonging to the Silurian 

 rocks. 



MA'ESUPITE. (from marsupmm, a 

 purse, Lat.) The name given by 

 Dr. Mantell, from their resemb- 

 lance to a purse, to a genus of 

 Crinoidea found in the chalk. The 

 marsupite was a molluscous animal, 

 of a sub-ovate form, having the 

 mouth in the centre, and surrounded 

 by arms, or tentacula. The skel- 

 eton was composed of crustaceous, 

 hexagonal plates : the arms, sub- 

 divided into numerous branches of 

 ossicula, or little bones : the whole 

 invested with a muscular tissue, or 

 membrane. When floating, the 

 creature could spread out its tenta- 

 cula like a net, and by closing 

 them, seize its prey, and convey it 

 to its mouth. Fossil remains of 

 this zoophyte have been found in 

 the upper chalk of Sussex, Wilt- 

 shire, and Yorkshire. The name 

 of 'cluster-stones,' given to them 

 by the quarry- men of Sussex, con- 

 veys an idea of their general ap- 

 pearance. They may, however, so 

 far as their body is concerned, be 

 compared to the fruit of the pine. 

 The body is orbicular, contained in 

 a pelvis composed of sixteen con- 

 vex, radiated, angular, crustaceous 

 plates. The marsupite was once 

 placed among the encriuites, from 

 which it differs most essentially, 

 inasmuch as it possesses neither a 

 vertebral column nor any processes 

 of attachment : from which cir- 

 cumstances it is clearly manifest 

 that it was not attached to one 

 place or point, but floated about in 

 the surrounding sea. The marsu- 

 pite may be considered as forming 

 a link between the Crino'idea and 

 the Stellarida3. 



MABSU'PITTM. The name given to a 

 dark-coloured membrane situated 

 in the vitreous humour of the eye 



