RODENTIA. 107 



would therefore be necessary to rank among the Rodentia. We should even have placed it there, 

 had we not been gradually led to it by an uninterrupted series from the Opossums to the Phalan- 

 gers, thence to the Kangaroos, and from the Kangaroos to the Wombat.* Their reproductive organs 

 are entirely similar to those of other Marsxipiata. 



They are sluggish animals, with large flat heads, and bodies that appear as if ei'ushed. They are 

 without a tail ; have iive naiis on each of the fore-feet, and four, with a small tubercle in place of a 

 thumb, on each of the hind ones, all very long and adapted for burrowing. Their gait is remarkably 

 slow. They have two long incisors to each jaw, almost similar to those of the Rodentia, [but which 

 oppose flat surfaces to each other, and not chisel-like edges, as in the latter] ; and their grinders have 

 each two transverse ridges. 



They subsist on herbage, and have a large and pear-formed stomach, and short and wide coecum, 

 furnished (like that of Man and the Ourang-outang) with a vermiform appendage. The penis is forked, 

 as in the Opossum.s. 



One species only is known {Did. tirsina, Shaw) ; of the size of a Badger ; the fur abundant, and of a more or less 

 yellowish-brown. It is found in Van Diemen's Land, where it lives in its burrow; and breeds readily in confine- 

 ment. ITie flesh is said to be excellent. [The skin of this animal is remarkably thick, and curiously attached to 

 the hip-bones : its eyes are unusually small. When attacked, it grunts like a Pig ; and is found at various eleva- 

 tions, burrowing in the forests and low grounds, and retiring to crevices in the upper. To the colonists, it is 

 generally known as the Badger. 



The Marsupiata are distributed by Prof. Owen, in conformity with the structure of their 

 digestive organs, as follows : — 



1. The coecum altogether absent. — Thylucynus, Dasyurus, Phuscogule, and probably 

 Myrmecobius. 



2. With a small ccecum. — Didelphis and Cheironectes ; Perameles, and probably Thy- 

 lacomys. 



3. Coecum of large size.— Phascolarctos, Phalangista, Petaurus. 



4. The stomach complicated. — Macropus and Hypsiprymnus. 



5. Ccecum with a vermiform appendage. — Phascalomys 



This arrangement appears to be perfectly in accordance with the affinities of these animals : 

 though, at the same time, it may be added that the Wombat {Phascalomys) might properly 

 form a distinct order of Ovovivipera.'] 



THE FIFTH ORDER OF MAMMALIANS. 



RODENTIA. 



We have just seen, in the Phalangers, canines so small, that we can hardly consider them 

 as such. The nutriment of these animals, accordingly, is chiefly derived from the vegetable 

 kingdom. Their intestines are long, and the coecum simple ; and the Kangaroos, which have 

 no canines at all, subsist on vegetables only. The Wombat might commence that series of 

 animals of which we are now about to speak, and which have a system of manducation even 

 less complete. 



Two large incisors in each jaw, separated from the molars by a wide interval, cannot well 

 seize a living prey, or devour flesh. They are unable even to cut the aliment; but they 

 serve to file, and by continued labour, to reduce it into small particles ; in a word, to gnaw 

 it : hence the name Rodentia applied to the animals of this order : it is thus that they suc- 



* This ^rauRtion is, however, more apparent than real, as rCjT^rils I never cease prowiiiff at tlie base, as their crrjwns wear away bj 

 the Wombat, wliich liiffers from all other Mitrsiipiatn in the persist- attrition.— Kd. 

 ciicy of the formative pulps of its teetli, wliich, in consequence, 1 



