addition, however, to this food, birds, eggs, small animals, roots, and fruits constitute the diet of the kinkajou ; and, as we have seen, it will draw these articles towards it with its tongue, when presented just within its reach. In drinking it laps like a dog, and also makes use of its fore-paws occasionally in holding food, and even in conveying it to the mouth, as well as in seizing its prey. In its aspect there is something of gentleness and goodnature; and in captivity it is extremely playful, familiar, and fond of being noticed. In its natural state, however, it is sanguinary and résolute. (Fig. 79). An individual of this species died at the gardens of the Zoological Society: it had lived in the possession of the Society about seven years, and was remarkable for gentleness and its playful disposition. During the greater part of the day it was usually asleep, rolled up in the inner partition or box of its large cage; this, indeed, was invariably the case in the morning, unless purposely disturbed, but in the afternoon it would often voluntarily come out, traverse its cage, take food, and play with those to whom it was accustomed. Clinging to the top wires of its cage with its hind-paws and tail, it would thus suspend itself, swinging backwards and forwards, and assuming a variety of antic positions. When thus hanging, it could bring up its body with the greatest ease, so as to cling with its fore-paws as well as the hind pair to the wires, and in this manner it would travel up and down its cage with the utmost address, every now and then thrusting forth its long tongue between the wires, as if in quest of food, which, if offered outside its cage, it would generally endeavour to draw in with this organ. It was very fond of being stroked and gently scratched, and when at play with any one it knew, it would pretend to bite, seizing the hand or fingers with its teeth, as a dog will do when gambolling with its master, but without hurting or intending injury. As the evening came on, its liveliness and restlessness would increase. then full of animation, traversing the space allotted to it in every direction, examining every object within its reach, rolling and tumbling about, and swinging to and fro from the wires of the cage: nor was its good-humour abated; it would gambol and play with its keepers, and exhibit in every movement the most surprising energy. In this state of exercise it would pass the night, retiring to rest on the dawn of the morning. The age of this individual is not ascertained ; the state of its teeth, however, which are much worn down, shows it to have attained an advanced period ; its colour was a pale yellowish gray, inclining to tawny—the hairs, in certain lights, have a glossy appearance. Its dissection after death fully confirmed the propriety of assigning it a place among the plantigrade Carnivora. The Binturong (Arctitü Binturong, Temminck; Tetides ater, F. Čuv.) seems to take the place of the kinkajou in the forests of Java and Sumatra. These It was animals are prehensile-tailed and arboreal, and resemble the racoons in the principal details of their dentition. They live both on animal and vegetable food, and are particularly fond of plantains ; they also eat eggs and birds. ORDER.-MARSUPIALIA. Most zoologists of the present day, and among them the first comparative anatomists, concur in regarding the Marsupial animals (Marsupialia or Marsupiata*) as a distinct group, or sub-class, of the Mammalia. They differ essentially from all others in their organization, yet comprehend genera fed by every variety of nutriment. Some are insectivorous or carnivorous, others herbivorous, and others again frugivorous ; some are diurnal, others nocturnal in their habits. Accordingly we find a corresponding modification of the teeth and digestive organs, as well as of those of progression and prehension. Hence may we trace in them analogies to the groups of the ordinary mammiferous quadrupeds, viz., to the Carnivora, the Insectivora, the Rodents, and the Edentata, as was well observed by Cuvier, whose opinions have been abundantly confirmed. It is on physiological grounds that the distinctness of the Marsupials rests: that is, on their structure and economy connected with the reproduction of their species, on the abbreviated term of gestation, and on the immature condition of the young at their birth, which are generally received into the marsupium or pouch, in which nidus the undeveloped being attaches itself to the teats, receives nutriment, and grows, till at length it is capable of acting for itself. In some instances the marsupium is nothing more than a fold of skin, and sometimes it is wanting ; but two bones, situated on the anterior part of the pelvis, and termed the marsupial bones, are never absent. These grounds of distinction have been extended by the researches of * Marsupium, a purse or pouch. a 6 6 6 anatomists, and among them in particular Professor Owen, who has pointed out several never failing accordances in the structure of other organs, as the heart and the brain, and also has cleared up many points respecting which doubts had previously existed. `Into the series of facts and deductions so luminously treated by that philosophic investigator of nature, the plan of this work forbids us to enter: we refer our readers, however, to the Phil. Trans.,' part ii., 1834; the · Proceed. Zool. Soc. Lond.,' 1831, 1833, 1838, and 1839; Phil. Trans.,' part i., 1837; Annals of Nat. Hist.,' Nov., 1839; • Proceed. Geol. Soc. Lond.,' vol. iii., 1838-9, &c. The Marsupial animals are all restricted to two portions of the globe, namely, America and Australia, including certain islands of the Indian Archipelago. The American species were the first known to European naturalists, and, indeed, the only ones with which Linnæus was acquainted. Captain Cook introduced the kangaroo of Australia to science, and subsequent researches in that region, the newest continent, have made us now familiar with its Fauna and Flora. Upwards of seventy species of Marsupials are known as Australian, besides about eighteen species belonging to other groups of quadrupeds, as the dingo dog, certain seals, a few bats and Rodents. The Marsupial sub-class contains the following families, viz.: 1. Didelphida. 2. Dasyuride. 3. Myrmecobiide. 4. Peramelidæ. 5. Macropide. 6. Phalangistide. 7. Phascolomyide. 8. Monotremata. Of each of these family sections we shall give examples. OPOSSUMS. THE VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM. (Didelphis Virginiana.) The genus Didelphis, of which the Virginian opossum is an example, is restricted to America. It contains about twenty species, some of which are very small. The teeth are as follows :—upper incisors ten, of which the two middle are longer than the rest, and |