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MARSUPIATA.—PHASCOLOMYIDÆ.


positions. Nor is this a solitary case. Mr. Bass himself, in a note to the above account,. observes that "the Kangaroo and some other animals in New South Wales were remarkable for being domesticated as soon as taken." Indeed, the whole of the Marsupiala, though some are of active and sprightly manners, present but little appearance of real docility or intelligence; and this fact, connected with the low degree of development of their brain, helps to prove their inferior rank to the placental Mammalha.

The flesh of the Wombat is described as being excellent meat; and as it is of considerable size, attaining the length of three feet, it might be worth naturalizing in this country. This would probably be effected without any difficulty: specimens that have been brought to Europe, having lived for several years as domestic pets. The individual that was dissected by Professor Owen in 1836, and which was the subject of a valuable Memoir by him, on its anatomy, had been in the Gardens of the Zoological Society between five and six years.