ORDER CARNASSIER. 3 



Afterwards from the East Indies, and still later from the 

 regions of Australasia, animals arrived equally distin- 

 guished by the possession of the abdominal pouch ; these 

 were immediately set down as genuine Didelphes, and 

 Gmelin has bestowed on them the titles of Didelphis Ori- 

 entalis, Didelphis Brunii, &c. ; and even the Tarsier of 

 Daubenton he inscribed among them, under the name of 

 Didelphis Macrotarsus. 



None, however, of these animals answered to the defini- 

 tion of Linne ; all had less than six incisors above, and 

 less than eight below, fyc. : nevertheless, Pallas, Camper, 

 and Zimmermann still preserved the appellations of Gmelin, 

 and thus prolonged the abuse. 



In the mean time, the discoveries of our countrymen in 

 New Holland added other animals to the list of the Didel- 

 phes which carried that external mark of resemblance 

 which we have noticed. Our hardy navigators, familiar 

 with the Opossum of America, set down these as animals of 

 the same kind. 



Travellers, by their labours, do doubtless much enrich 

 natural history ; but, in proportion to the multiplication of 

 animals, so is the difficulty and confusion consequent on 

 their classification. Animals were found agreeing, it is 

 true, in the character of the pouch, bnt varying most essen- 

 tially in other particulars. 



We shall lay before the reader the characters of each 

 of the families of the Marsupiata in the table, and confine 

 ourselves here, for the most part, to some general observa- 

 tions upon them, the substance of which be principally 

 derived from M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire. 



The anatomy of the Marsupiata is well worth the mi- 

 nutest consideration : the females, as we have seen, have a 

 pouch under the abdomen, at the bottom of which is the 

 mammary apparatus : within this pouch the young receive 

 their nourishment. 



B2 



