ORDER CARNASSIER. 51 



and enveloped in a pouch which is attached to the 

 mammae. But this family is so far from being governed 

 by the laws that regulate the animal kingdom in general, 

 that its leading character does not necessarily suppose 

 the presence of any other. It approaches the Rodentia in 

 the number and form of the teeth, but their relative 

 situation forbids us to rank it with this order, as they 

 are much less placed for gnawing and cutting than for 

 grinding the food. Neither do these animals resemble the 

 Rodentia in the articulation of the lower jaw. Again, if 

 they approach them in the general form of the body, they 

 are quite remote from them in the proportions of the limbs 

 and mode of locomotion, which have some analogy to those 

 of the Ursine genus. It being impossible to characterize 

 them precisely, systematic writers have placed them be- 

 tween the two orders to which they might form a common 

 connecting link, either as Didelphes, or Rodentia. Unfor- 

 tunately these orders are composed of genera so imperfectly 

 linked with each other, that their approximation is just as 

 arbitrary as their existence. 



The Wumbat, in its full growth, is about the same size 

 as the Racoon. The tail is a very trifling rudiment. 



These animals have two very large incisors, flattened 

 above and opposed coronal to coronal, like tuberculous 

 molars, and not face to face like the incisors of the Ro- 

 dentia. They have ten molars in each jaw divided by a 

 transverse furrow. The first is the smallest. 



They are plantigrade animals, have five toes on the fore 

 feet, and four on the hind, with the rudiment of a thumb, 

 armed with long and powerful nails for digging. The eye 

 is simple, black, and so small, that the form of the pupil is 

 not to be distinguished. The ear is also very simple, small 

 pointed, and concealed in the hair. The fur is rough and 

 rather thick. The colour is generally of a grayish brown, 



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