First lesson in zoology : adapted for use in schools . Fio. 235.—Opossum, and side-view of pelvis, with the marsupial bone, M. pelvis, and projecting forwards. In the opossum, thekangaroo, and probably most marsupials, the young,which are very rudimentary and small when born, livein the pouch attached to the nipple, which fills themouth. To this it remains attached for a consid-erable period, the milk being forced down its throat bythe contraction of the cremaster muscle. The danger ofsuffocation is avoided by the elongated and conical form ofthe upper extremity of the larynx, which is embrace
First lesson in zoology : adapted for use in schools . Fio. 235.—Opossum, and side-view of pelvis, with the marsupial bone, M. pelvis, and projecting forwards. In the opossum, thekangaroo, and probably most marsupials, the young,which are very rudimentary and small when born, livein the pouch attached to the nipple, which fills themouth. To this it remains attached for a consid-erable period, the milk being forced down its throat bythe contraction of the cremaster muscle. The danger ofsuffocation is avoided by the elongated and conical form ofthe upper extremity of the larynx, which is embraced by. WiiA i 236 FIB8T LE880NS IN ZOOLOGY. the soft palate, as in the Cetacea, and thus respiration goeson freely, while the milk passes, on each side of the laryn-geal cone, into the oesophagus (Huxley). Long after the young are weaned, and when they arepartly grown, they run into the pouch upon the approachof danger, or enter it when tired, and, there safely en-sconced, present a comical sight, peeping out to see if thedanger is past. The opossums inhabit North and South America. Theyhave a long, nearly naked, scaly tail, and they walk, likebears, on the sole of the whole foot. The species range insize from being a little larger than a mouse to the size of acat, and they live on birds and their eggs, reptiles and in-sects. The Virginian opossum {Didelphys Virginiana)(Fig. 333) lives for the most part in trees. There are squirrel-like flying marsupials {Petaurus),marsupial rats, marsupial bears, and marsupial ant-eaters(Mi/rmecoiins), but the most characteristic Australian ani-mals are the
Size: 1134px × 2204px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1894
