CATALOGUE 



MARSUPIALIA. 



MARSUPIALIA. 



Arboreal or terrestrial Mammals, whose young are brought forth 

 in a very imperfect condition, and are nourished by milk injected 

 into them from the mammae, to which they are firmly attached 

 for some time after birth. These mammae are always abdominal 

 in position, and are generally situated within a fold of the integu- 

 ment, which forms a pouch (marsupium), whence the Order derives 

 its name. The brain is proportionally small and little folded. 

 The vagina is double, and its two horns frequently communicate 

 with one another proximally. The limbs are normal in their 

 position and relative development, the hinder pair always the 

 larger and forming the chief agents in progression. A tail is 

 almost invariably present, is generally long, and often prehensile. 

 In the skeleton long epipubic bones*, commonly called "mar- 

 supial " bones, but bearing no special relation to the pouch, are 

 present in both sexes. Clavicles are present in all except the 

 Peramelidw. 



The skull has usually a large facial and comparatively small 

 cranial portion. The nasal bones are large, and generally expanded 

 behind. The zygomata are complete, and the malar bone is large 

 and extends backwards below the zygomatic process of the squa- 

 mosal as far as the glenoid fossa. The orbit is never completed by 

 bone behind. The palate is generally more or less imperfect, 



* Eudimentary in Thj/lacinut. 



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