CLASS mammals: order marsupialia. 



107 



ORDER MARSUPIALIA. 



Characteristics. — The Marsupials (pouched) 

 an inch long 



General 

 are not over 



at birth, but are immediately 

 transferred to a pocket formed by 

 the skin of the mother's abdomen. 

 Nourished by milk, they remain 

 there, as in a living cradle, till 

 able to take care of themselves. 

 Except a single Family, they be- 

 long to Australia and adjacent 

 islands. 



Macropodidae. — The Kanga- 

 roos are noted for their small fore 

 limbs and large hind ones. The 

 latter with the powerful tail 

 form a tripod to sustain the ani- 

 mal when sitting ; but when feed- 

 ing, it goes upon all fours, and 

 the young often protrude their 

 heads from the abdominal pouch and crop the herbage at 

 the same time with the mother. When alarmed, the Kanga- 



Ma-t^pus major. Kangaroo. 



Mg. 180^ 



Diddphys mrginiana. Opossum. 



roo bounds off twenty 

 feet at a leap.* Its 

 eyes are large and have 

 a peculiar gazelle-like 

 expression in strange 

 contrast to that of its 

 gleaming white teeth. 

 The different species 

 vary in height from 

 that of a rabbit to that 

 of a man. 



* It is eagerly hunted for its flesh and skin. When brought to hay hy the hounds 

 it seizes them with its fore limbs and endeavors either to drown them, if water be at^ 

 hand, or to lay them open with its hind claw. 



