THE JOUENAL 



OF 



THE LINNEAN SOCIETY. 



On the G-astric Glands of the Marsupialia. By James John- 

 stone, Fisheries-Assistant, University College, Liverpool 

 (Communicated by Prof. G-. B. Howes, Sec. Linn. Soc.) 



[Read 1st December, 1898.] 

 (Plate 1.) 



W. A. ToEBES in 1881, in an account o£ an invesligation of the 

 anatomy of a Koala, was led, by a consideration of many points 

 of similarity between this animal and the Wombat, to deduce a 

 closer degree of relationship between the two forms than was 

 then generally admitted. The common possession of a " gastric 

 gland," a structure which Forbes considered to be so peculiar as 

 to render it highly improbable that it should have been inde- 

 pendently acquired in two forms unrelated to each other, afforded 

 him a " convincing token of their affinity." Whether or not a 

 fuller knowledge of the nature of this structure than Forbes 

 possessed materially strengthens his contention, does not seem 

 certain, but this investigation into the minute structure of the 

 gland, — an investigation suggested by reading Forbes' paper, — 

 seem? to disclose certain points worth noting. 



The first mention of the presence of a gastric gland in the 

 stomach of Pliascolomys seems to be that made by Home (4) in 

 1808, who refer.s to it as closely resembling that of the Beaver, 

 and " forming a very extraordinary peculiarity." Home gives 

 a very correct figure of the external appearance of the gland, a 

 figure which Owen (9) repeats. Owen knew of the existence 

 of the gland in Phascolarctus, and described it as closely 



LIKN. JOUKN. — ZOOLOGY, YOL. XXYII. 1 



