242 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 



whole resembled it in the unwieldy and clumsy fonn of 

 body. This extinct group, which probably corresponded with 

 the gigantic placental hoofed animals of the present day — 

 the hippopotami and rhinoceroses — may be called Hoofed 

 Marsupials (Barypoda). Closely allied to them is the order 

 of kangaroos, or Leaping Marsupials (Macropoda), which 

 all have seen in zoological gardens. In their shortened 

 fore legs, their very lengthened hind legs, and very strong 

 taU, which serves as a jumping pole, they correspond with 

 the leaping mice ia the class of Rodents. Their jaw, how- 

 ever, resembles that of horses, and their complex stomach 

 that of Rumiuants. A third order of Herbivorous Marsupials 

 corresponds in its jaws to Rodents, and ia its subterranean 

 mode of life, especially, to digging mice. Hence they may 

 be termed Rodent Marsupials, or root-eating pouched animals 

 (Rhizophaga). They are now represented only by the 

 Australian wombat (Phascolomys). A fourth and last order 

 of Herbivorous Marsupials is formed by the climbing or 

 Fruit-eating Marsupials (Carpophaga), whose mode of life 

 and structure resembles partly that of squuTels, partly 

 that of apes (Phalangista, Phascolarctus). 



The second legion of Marsupials, the Carnivorous Mar- 

 supials (Zoophaga), is likewise divided into four main 

 groups or orders. The most ancient of these is that of the 

 primseval, or Insectivorous Marsupials (Cantharophaga). It 

 probably includes the primary forms of the whole legion, 

 and possibly also those of the whole sub-class. At least, all 

 the lower jaws from Stonesfield (with the exception of the 

 Stereognathus) belong to Insectivorous Marsupials, and the 

 still living Myi-mecobius is their nearest relative. But some 

 of those oolitic Primaeval Marsupials possessed a larger 



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