ON THE ANATOMY OF THE KOALA AND VULPINE PHALANGEE. 547 



30. The (Comparative Anatomy of the Koala (PJiascoIarctos 

 cinereus) and Vulpine Plialanger (TricJiosurus vnl/ie- 

 iuda). By Charles F. Sonntag, M.D., F.Z.S., 

 Anatomist to the Society. 



[Received May 7, 1921 : Read June 7, 1921.] 



(Plates v., VI. ; Text-figures 53-63.) 



The observations recorded here are based on the examination 

 of an adult male Trichosurus vulpectda which died in the Society's 

 Gardens, and a 3^oung female Phascolarctos cinereus which 

 Mr. A. F. Richardson, of Hull, sent to us for examination after 

 death. 



The measurements of the Koala are as follows : — 



Ccnihncires. 



Length from tip of nose to root of tail 50 



„'' of head 12-5 



of tail 2-5 



Greatest width of head 7 '5 



Length of fore limb (arm, 9"5; forearm, 13"5; 



manus, 4-5) 27*5 



Length of hind limb (thigh, 11-5; leg, 12: 



pes, 5) ' 28-5 



The external characters presented nothing new. 



Sir Everard Home, who wrote the first account of the internal 

 anatomy of the Koala, in 1808, dei-cribed the character of the 

 glandular patch of the lesser curvature of the stomach, and the 

 prostate gland which resembles tha,t of the KM.ngaroo ; he also 

 recorded the absence of the patella (5). Eighteen years later 

 Dr. Robert Knox, of Edinburgh, described the long cfecnm for 

 the first time, and named the Koala the "Wombat of Flinders" 

 in honour of its discoverer. He also criticised the wiitings of 

 Home, Illiger, Cuvier, Desmarest, and De Blainville. Since 

 then accounts of the anatom}^ of the entire animal have been 

 written by Martin (8), Forbes (4), and Young (13), and indi- 

 vidual organs have been described by Flower (3), Owen (11), 

 Macalister (7), and Chalmers Mitchell (9). The histology of 

 diflerent parts has been described by Oppel (10) and Braus (1). 



The Anatomy of the Head and Neck. 

 Phascolarctos cinereus. 



When the skin of the head is removed it is seen how the 

 platysma myoides. muscles of mastication, auricular muscles, and 

 those round the orbit and mouth are strongly develo[)ed. 



The jf^Zftiysma wiyozffes arises posteriorly from a strong panni- 

 culus carnosus. It has a clearly-defined line of attachment to 



