398 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



the present period, the great metropolis of the order is 

 Australia; certain species of the group, however, are found 

 in the Molucca Islands, and one genus, containing many 



Fig. 300. SKELETON OF KANGAROO. 



species " (the Opossums), "is peculiar to the New World/' 

 Their remains have heen found in a fossil state in Europe, as 

 well as in Australia and South America.* 



This order " presents a remarkable diversity of structure, 

 (and consequently habits) containing herbivorous, carnivorous, 

 and insectivorous species; indeed, we find among the Marsupial 

 mammals analogous representations of most of the other 

 orders of mammalia." Its most striking peculiarity is the 

 premature birth of the young, and consequently the imperfect 

 state of their development at that period. Professor Owen 

 examined the young of the great Kangaroo, twelve hours 

 after birth, and found its whole length from the nose to the 

 end of the tail did not exceed one inch and two lines.! The 

 corresponding measurement of a full grown male would be 

 between eight and nine feet. J 



" An animal so little advanced at the time of its birth as 

 the young Marsupial, requiring a constant supply of food, and 

 so ill fitted to bear the exposure which the more advanced 

 young of other mammalia are subject to, must, it would appear, 



* Our information is derived from a valuable work now in course of 

 publication, Natural History of the Mammalia, by R. G. AVaterhouse, 

 Esq. and when practicable, we give the words of the original, marked by 

 inverted commas. 



f A line is the twelfth part of an inch. 



j The body, measured from the tip of the nose to the root of the tail, 

 being, according to Mr. Waterhouse, G3 inches, and the tail 42 inches. 



