51 



the descending process which characterizes these parts in the Mar- 

 supial animals. 



" The parotid glands were very thin, situated upon, and partly on 

 the inner side of, the posterior portion of the lower jaw; they mea- 

 sured each 14- inch in length, and ^ inch in breadth ; the duct passed 

 directly upwards and outwards till it reached the orifice of the sterno- 

 cleido-mastoideus ; here it was buried in the cellular substance anterior 

 to that muscle, then turned over the ramus of the jaw, and continued 

 its course over the masseter, where it was slightly tortuous ; it en- 

 tered the mouth just anterior to the edge of the buccinator. The 

 submaxillary glands were each about the size of a walnut; their 

 ducts terminated, as usual, on each side oi the frcenum linguce. 



" The heart of the Wombat presented the usual peculiarities oc- 

 curring in this part of the Marsupial organization; viz. 1st, the two 

 appendages of the right auricle, one passing in front and the other 

 behind the ascending aorta ; 2ndly, the absence of the annulus and 

 fossa, ovalis; and 3rdly, the absence of the terminal orifice of the co- 

 ronary vein which empties itself into the cava superior sinistra just 

 before the wide termination of the latter vein in the auricle by the 

 side of the cava inferior. The right auriculo-ventricular opening is 

 widely open, and is guarded by an irregular naiTow membranous 

 valve, the outer portion of which is attached to the tendons of three 

 carnecB columns ; two of which are of a large size as compared with 

 the third, and arise, as in the Kangaroo, from the septum near the 

 angle where this is joined to the parietes of the ventricle. The mus^ 

 cular walls are continued obliquely upwards in a conical form to the 

 origin of the pulmonary artery, somewhat resembling a bulbus arte- 

 riosus. This peculiarity is still more marked in the Kangaroo. The 

 right ventricle descends nearer to the apex of the heart in the Wom- 

 bat than in the Kangaroo, and the form of -the heart is longer and 

 narrower. The left auricle is smaller and more muscular than the 

 right ; the valve between it and the ventricle is, as usual, broader 

 and stronger, and its free margin is attached to the tendons of two 

 thick columnce carneee, having the usual origins distinct from the 

 septum, leaving that part of the inner surface of the ventricle smooth 

 for the passage of the blood to the aorta. The pulmonary veins ter- 

 minate by two trunks in the left auricle. 



" The lungs consisted of one lobe on the left side, and one on the 

 right, with the lobulus medius ; which was a small strip extended be- 

 tween the heart and diaphragm. 



" llie thyroid glands were elongated bodies of a dark colour, reach- 

 ing from the thyroid cartilage to the seventh tracheal ring on each 

 side. 



" The kidneys were each 2-J inches long, and 2 inches broad, and 

 of a somewhat compressed oval figure ; the tubuli terminated on 9, 

 single obtuse mammilla. 



" The specimen dissected by Cuvier being, like that examined by 

 Home, a male, the female organs of the Wombat are only known by 



