4o0 HIS roil Y OF 



handed is a sufficient reason for placing them in the rear of the 

 monkeys. 



The first, and the most remarkable of this tribe is the op- 

 ossum, an animal found both in North and South America, of 



aud some have on each side the fold of skin which forms the pouch, out 

 scarcely visible. The number of the mammae vary, and is especially con. 

 siderable among the didelphea. 



The physiognomy of these animals is in relation to their natural habits and 

 mode of living-. The didelphes and dasyuri have a conic head, elevated ears, 

 mouth deeply cut, and the aspect of caruivora. The perameles rather resem- 

 ble rats, the long-legged kanguroos, hares, andthephascolomys the marmot. 

 Some, such as the didelpliis and dasyuri, are carnassiers, living on eggs, 

 small birds, and corrupted flesh, and sometimes Crustacea and insects. 

 Others, as the kanguroo and phascolomys, are sustained purely on vegeta- 

 bles. The phalangers are probably both frugivorous and insectivorous. 



They are all remarkable for the imperfect development in >vluch the 

 young are born. Even in the species without pouches, and with prehensile 

 tails, the young hang under the belly of the mother for a certain time ; then 

 they mount on her back, and twist their tails round hers to fix themselves. 

 The young of the koala, which has no tail, fixes itself on the parent's back, 

 and fastens there with its hands. The number of the young is variable. In 

 the didelphes, from ten to twelve, and in the kanguroo, usually but one. 



The marsupiata are generally solitary. Some remain constantly ou the 

 trees, the didelphes, the phalangers, and koalas. Otliers ferret continual- 

 ly in the rocks on the seashore, as the dasyuri. Others remain constantly 

 at the bottom of their burrows (the phascolomys). The kanguroos, fee- 

 ble animals, and without means of defence, live in troops. They alone 

 serve for the purposes of nourishment to man, whom they avoid only by 

 means of that activity with which they execute such rapid and extended 

 leaps. Their skins are the only clothing worn by the natives of those coun- 

 tries which they inhabit. 



A very remarkable fact is, that the marsupiata have, as yet, been observ- 

 ed only in South America, New Holland, and some islands of the Indian 

 Archipelago. Tlie didelphes, properly so called, or the sarigues, and the 

 chironectes, are proper to the first of these countries. All the others, ex. 

 cept the phalangers, Avith naked and scaly tails, are peculiar to the second ; 

 and those last mentioned phalangers, and a species of the kanguroo, are 

 alone to be met with in the Indian Archipelago. It is remarkable that aU 

 the mammalia known in New Holland, to the present day, with the excep. 

 tion of the dog, and the hydromys with white belly and that with yellow, 

 belong to the marsupiata. To this continent also belong the oruitliorhynci 

 and ecliidnae, which have also the marsupial bones in both sexes, but whose 

 organs of genera-tion are peculiarly conformed, and in which no mammae 

 have yet been observed. These animals have so great an analogy with the 

 marsupiata, that M. De Blainville puts them in the same sub-class. But M. 

 Geoffroy has separated them from the other mammalia, to form an order 

 which he calls Monotremes. 



The Virginian opossum is an animal by no mi'ans eminent for intelligence. 

 It digs a burrow or den, near thickets not too far removed from the habi. 



