ORIGIN OF MARSUPIAL POCKETS 93 



securely would be preserved, even though 

 at first it had nothing to do with a pouch. 

 It would suffice if folds were to appear in 

 the neighbourhood of the individual nipples, 

 which afforded additional support to the young 

 by clasping round their snouts. In this way 

 we can picture to ourselves the beginning of 

 the marsupial pockets. Indeed, t have 



Fig. 35. — Young of Sminthopsis attached by 

 Pouch. (Bresslau. ) 



observed in some cases — for instance, in the 

 female Sminthopsis, already referred to — how 

 by means of such folds the head of the young 

 one is more firmly fixed to the mother's 

 abdomen (Fig. 35). 



The acquisition of such marsupial pockets, 

 however, was not necessarily followed by the 

 evolution of the marsupium. If the nipples 

 were widely distributed — as is, for example, 



