240 MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



concealed beneath the animal's skin. The fourth 

 toe is of considerable size and may measure as much 

 as a foot in length, if we include the long and 

 sharply-pointed claw and the backward-projecting 

 metatarsal bone. 



The female, as is well known, possesses a pouch 

 for the reception of her young. The latter, when 

 first born, are both blind and naked, but the most 

 curious feature concerning them is that they are 

 barely an inch in length and weigh but twenty -one 

 grains. Directly the tiny creature is brought into 

 the world the mother picks it up with her lips, then 

 opens her pouch with her paws and places her off- 

 spring inside. When once it is there, she proceeds 

 to place the mouth of her helpless babe against one 

 of her nipples, to which it becomes fixed and 

 immovable owing to the lips swelling around the 

 teat. As the baby is not sufficiently developed 

 to suckle on its own account, nature has provided 

 the mother with special muscles which she is able 

 to control so as to inject a supply of milk from her 

 glands into the infant's mouth. In order that the 

 young kangaroo may not choke during this process, 

 it is endowed with a unique development of the 

 larynx, or upper portion of the windpipe, which 

 is prolonged in the region of the back of the nose 

 to a level situated above the nipple to which the 

 baby clings. By this means a free passage for air 

 is assured through the nose, as well as one for 

 conveying the milk through the gullet. When 

 the infant is able to control its movements more 

 fully, it becomes detached from the nipple, and in 



