THE EXHIBITION OF 1862. 
169 
by a poucli or bag, in which the young are carried for a con- 
siderable period after birth. This is rendered necessary by 
the fact that they are born in an imperfectly-formed condition, 
so that they are incapable of at once existing, like other 
mammalia, in the outer world into which they are rudely and, 
as it were, prematurely thrust. They are, therefore, imme- 
diately transferred into the maternal pouch, in which the teats 
are situated, and, fastening on to them, they remain snug and 
secure from danger. The new-born kangaroo is but an inch 
in length, blind, and with very rudimentary limbs and tail; 
and it is believed that this remarkable character has reference 
to the physical constitution of the country, where water is very 
scarce ; so that, instead of leaving their young, as other animals 
would do, while they travel great distances to quench their 
thirst, they are thus enabled to carry with them their helpless 
offspring, in those long migrations which are necessitated by 
the scarcity of water. These singular animals are abundant 
in Australia and Tasmania, which thus form, as Forbes re- 
marked, a peculiar zoological province, where we have the 
lowest conditions of the vertebrate type assembled, as if to 
indicate a rudimentary stage of the world’s history. 
One genus of pouched animals, the Opossum (Didelphys) , 
is found in America, and another ( Guscus ), is Malayan ; but 
with these exceptions, they inhabit no part of the world but 
those just indicated. 
In the Australian courts also might have been seen those 
remarkable animals the Duck-billed Platypus (Ornithorhynchus ) , 
and the Porcupine Ant-eater [Echidna ) , anomalous quadrupeds, 
closely allied, and constituting together the order of Mono- 
tremes. The former is aquatic, with a flattened beak, like a 
duck, and close-set fur, like a mole ; the latter terrestrial 
and insectivorous, with a cylindrical tongue like the true ant- 
eater, and covered with spines like a hedgehog — both strictly 
limited to Australia and Tasmania. A very beautiful skeleton 
of the Echidna, prepared by Professor Hyrtl of Vienna, in the 
Austrian court, showed the curious marsupial bones, remarkably 
large in this species. These bones are two in number, diverg- 
ing forward from the front of the pelvis, for the support of the 
marsupial pouch. It is not a little noticeable that they are 
also found in the males, which have no pouch. In some 
respects these two quadrupeds may be considered to connect 
the mammalia with the class of birds. 
The productions of New South Wales, South Australia, 
Western Australia, Victoria, and Queensland, may for all 
purposes be considered together, having very much in com- 
mon ; and with them may be included Tasmania. In all are 
found the characteristic marsupial animals, of which the 
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