HODENTIA. 10/ 



wnuld therefore be necessary fo rank among t.I.e RorleriHa. Vfc should even have placed it there, 

 had ive not been gradually led to it by an uninterrupted series from the Opossums to the Phalan- 

 gcrs, thence to the Kangaroos, and from the Kangaroos to the Womliat.* Their reproductive organs 

 arc entirely similar to those of other Marsupiafa. 



They are sluggish animals, with large flat heads, and bodies that appear as if crushed. They are 

 ivithout a tail ; have five nails on each of the fore-feet, and four, with a small tubercle in place of a 

 thumb, on each of the hind ones, aU very long and adapted for buiTowing. Their gait is remarkably 

 slow. They have two long incisors to each jaw, almost similar to those of the Rodentia, [but which 

 oppose flat surfaces to each other, and not chisel-like edges, as in the latter] ; and their grinders have 

 each two transverse ridges. 



They subsist on herbage, and have a large and pear-formed stomach, and short and wide cfficum, 

 furnished (like that of Man and the Ouraiig-outang) with a vermiform appendage. The penis is forked, 

 as in the Opossums. 



One species only is known (Did. imina, Shaw); of the size of a Badger; the fur abundant, and of a more or less 

 yrllowisb-brown. It is found in A'an Diemen's Land, where it lives in its burrow; and breeds readily in confine- 

 ment. The fiesli is said to be excellent. [The skin of this animal is remarkably thick, and curiously attached to 

 tlie hip-bones : its eyes are unusually small. "When attacked, it grunts like a Pig ; and is found at various eleva- 

 tions, burrowing in the forests and low grounds, and retiring to crevices in the upper. To the colonists, it is 

 generally known as the Badger, 



The Marsupiata are distributed by Prof. Ovien, in conformity with the structure of their 

 digestive organs, as follows : — 



1. The ccecum altogether absent. — Tliylacyinis, Dasijiirus, Phascorjaie, and probably 

 Mi/7-m.ecobius. 



2. With a small coccum. — Didelphis and CJieironectes ; Peraineles, and probably Thy- 

 lucomys. 



3. Co?cum of large size. — PJiascoIorctos, Plialangista, Petaurus. 



4. The stomach complicated. — Blacropus and Hypsiprymnus. 



5. Cfecttm with a vermiform appendage. — Phascalomys- 



This arrangement appears to be perfectly in accordance v\itli the affinities of these animals : 

 though, at the .same time, it may be added that the Wombat {Phascalomys) might properly 

 form a distinct order of OvoviinpeTtt,'] 



THE FIFTH ORDER OF MAMMALIANS. 



EODENTIA. 



We have just seen, in the Pbalangers, canines so small, that we can hardly consider them 

 as such. The nutriment of these animals, accordingly, is chiefly derived from the vegetable 

 kingdom. Their intestines are long, and the ccecum simple ; and the Kangaroos, which have 

 no canines at all, subsist on vegetables only. The Wombat might commence that series of 

 animals of wdiieh we are now about to speak, and which have a system of manducation even 

 less complete. 



Two large incisors in each jaw, separated from the molars by a wide interval, cannot well 

 seize a living prey, or devour flesh. They are unable even to cut the aliment; but they 

 serve to file, and by continued labour, to reduce it into small particles ; in a word, to gnaw 

 it : hence the name Rodentia applied to the animals of this order : it is thus that they suc- 



* This jjrtiii.ation is, huwever, more appfircnt Uian real, as rcir'^rdi I never cease i^owiug at the base, as tlitir eruwna wear aivay by 

 the WoinbiLt, ivliieli iliffers from ,dl other ,V,/rs„;j„i;,) in tlic persist- attrition.— Ka. 

 eney of tlie formative jiulps of its teeth, which, in couseoueoe,', I 



