Carlisle in the past year. This is the third recorded instance of 

 the occurrence of the species in England. 



The following notes by Mr. Martin of a dissection of a Vulpine 

 Opossum, Phalangista Vulpina, Cuv., were read. 



" This animal, which died a short time since at the Gardens of the 

 Society, was a female. In the length of the body it measured 1 foot 

 4-1- inches, exclusive of the head, which from nose to occiput measured 

 3-I- inches : the tail somewhat exceeded 1 1 inches. There was no 

 abdominal pouch : the mammcE were two in number, about a quarter 

 of an inch apart, very small, pointed, and retracted within the skin. 

 The body was loaded with fat, and a layer of. that substance, fully 

 half an inch in thickness, lined the abdominal and psoas muscles. 



" On leaving the pylorus, the duodenum was found to dip down 

 to about the middle lumbar vertebra, where it crossed the spine, and 

 then making an acute turn ascended till it reached the pylorus, where 

 it again turned down abruptly, and lost, in the convolutions of the 

 succeeding portion, or jejunum, its distinctive appellation. 



" The stomach was large and simple, with a considerable cardiac 

 pouch ; when distended with air, its circumference measured 8^ 

 inches, and the great curvature 13. 



" The omentum was very extensive, and loaded with fat. 

 " The. pancreas was thin and indefinite, blending with the fat of 

 the mesentery. It consisted of a main portion or body lying beneath 

 the stomach, whence it spread to the mesenteiy, a broad slip adhering 

 to the duodenum for about 2 inches. 



"The liver was not unlike a fig-leaf in general outline, being deeply 

 split into six distinct lobes, — three on the right, and three on the left, 

 besides the lobulus Spigelii. In the middle fissure was seated the gall- 

 bladder, its fundus being visible in situ naturali. The shape of this 

 vesicule wa.s, as usual, oval. It was filled with yellow bile. Its duct, 

 which measured altogether 2^ inches, received, at about half an inch 

 from its commencement, several very small hepatic ducts, and en- 

 tered the duodenum, with the pancreatic, 3 inches below the pylorus. 

 " The spleen consisted of three processes or radii from a central 

 body : one of these processes adhered to the cardiac portion of the 

 stomach ; another floated in the omentum ; and the third, bound by 

 the mesentery, just covered the left kidney. 



" The total length of the intestines was 11 feet 8 inches; the 

 length of the small intestines being 6 feet 10, and of the large 4 feet 

 10. The mean diameter of the small intestines was half an inch. 

 I'he mean diameter of the large at their origin was three quarters 

 of an inch ; but they contracted as they proceeded to one quarter, 

 and the rectum subsequently enlarged to three quarters. The narrow 

 part was filled with irregular knotted faces. There were no longi- 

 tudinal bands or sacculi. The texture of the large intestines was 

 thin, and the circular fibres very distinct. The ceecum was long and 

 convoluted on the mesentery, and narrowed gradually to a point ; its 

 length was 1 foot 4-f inches. 



"The right kidney was higher than the left. The suprarenal 



