Page 202. 
160 THE CAUSE OF DEATH OF A BLACK-FACED KANGAROO. 
29. ON THE CAUSE OF DEATH OF A BLACK-FACED 
KANGAROO (MACROPUS MELANOPS).* 
Tue cold weather of the first week of this month coming on rather 
suddenly, seems to have been the cause of the death of three animals 
in the Gardens, in all of which, on post-mortem examination, it was 
found that the lesion was the result of excessive and abnormal move- 
ment in the abdominal viscera. A Paradoxure died from intussuscep- 
tion of the small intestine, part going through the ileo-czcal valve into 
the colon; an Emu from prolapse of a considerable length of the ali- 
mentary canal; and the above-named Kangaroo from strangulation of 
a loop of small intestine by the tight twisting round it of the csecam— 
a most uncommon lesion, which proves that the possession of that ap- 
pendage has its disadvantages as far as the individual is concerned— 
just as in several human subjects death has been proved to have 
occurred from impaction of small bodies, like cherry-stones, in the 
appendix vermiformis. 
In the Kangaroo under consideration, on opening the abdomen the 
attention was immediately drawn to a large loop of strangulated small 
intestine, quite black from congestion, and partly covered with flakes 
of recent lymph, the result of the induced peritonitis, which was in- 
considerable. The length of gut involved was nearly two yards after 
it had been detached from the mesentery; but in the body of the 
animal it appeared considerably shorter, from being convoluted in the 
ordinary manner. The last foot or so of the small intestine was not 
included in the diseased loop, which consisted of the portion immedi- 
ately preceding it. The cecum was about a foot and a half long, and 
was situate in the right iliac region, from which it extended to the left 
superficially, and then again to the right behind the loop of intestine 
which it encircled, so that the caput ceeci could be seen, distended 
with grumous matter (as was the strangulated portion), to the right. 
With care, while the viscera were in situ, the little finger could be 
introduced into the ring thus artificially formed; and it was evident 
that the constriction was mostly produced by the mesenteric band 
which attaches the proximal portion of the. cecum to the small in- 
testine. There were no adhesions of importance. The viscera were 
removed en masse; and afterwards, without the least difficulty, the 
cecum was uncoiled, and the intestine was then left quite pervious. 
* “Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ 1873, pp. 202-3. Read, Feb. 18, 
1873. 
