QUADRUPEDS. 



indigenous mammiferous animals but such as belong to this 

 Order. 



The Kangaroos (Macropus] * are herbivorous, and remarkable for the 

 smallness of their fore feet, and the length of their hind legs and tail, upon 

 which they sit upright, as, on a tripod, and by their assistance can make pro- 

 digious bounds sometimes clearing a space of twenty feet at a single leap. 

 The middle toe of the hind foot is very large and constitutes a formidable 

 weapon. The kangaroos inhabit Australia. One species (M. major) stands 

 upwards of six feet in height. The young are born in an extremely immature 

 condition, and are received at birth into a pouch or fold of the skin of the 

 abdomen of the mother. Here their naked and feeble bodies are protected 

 from exposure to the air and from all injury until they are advanced ingrowth 

 and strength. Within this abdominal pocket are situated the teats, to one of 

 which the infant animal at a very early period attaches itself, and from it 

 derives the nutriment that gradually enables it to maintain an independent 

 life. The kangaroo thus carries its young about for a period of eight months ; 

 a little kangaroo may then sometimes be seen putting its head out of the 

 pouch, and nibbling the high grass. At length it ventures forth, and tries its 

 strength alone ; but on the least alarm it springs again into its wonted hiding- 

 place. 



FIG. 402. VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM 



The Opossums (Didelphis) f have in all fifty teeth ; their tongue is rough 

 and bristly, their tail prehensile and partly naked. The thumb of the hinder 

 foot is long and considerably separated from the other toes. Their mouth, 

 which opens far back, and their large naked ears, give them a peculiar phy- 

 siognomy. They are fcetid and nocturnal animals, very slow in their move- 



, makros, long; TTOVS, pous, the foot. f 5ts, dis, double; 5eX0i;s, delphys, a womb. 



