The Washington herald., 1911-05-21

HN headquarters are IN Australia, New
III VI Guinea, Van Dcmans Land anC
S and some of the islands in the imme
diate vicinity, ami how, in fact, they
constitute the whole mammalian fauna o
Australia. with the exception of the wild
dog. the dingo-which is almost to a ccrtaint,
the descendant of an animal introduced by
man at some far bygone period-and few
bats, which could easily have found their way
there by flight. And | need hardly remind
you, either, that these Marsupials, or pouch
learing mammals, comprise a good many very
diverse groups-the kangaroos, kangaroo-rats
dasyures and opossums all agreeing. however
in that one characteristic the possession OF
a pouch, no matter how unlike they may be
in other respects. and all distinguished by
smooth, poor brains and limited type Of
intelligence, which gives them a rank below
ether mammals, though higher than the Mono
tremata-the quadrupeds which lay eggs.
There are other queer things about them
stcmachs and the bending in of the angles OF
their lower jaws just at that projection which
you can feel In your own jaw. in line be-
low your ear
II you feel just there in kangaroo or a
wombat, you will find that the lump is curled
inwards, as if it was made of cardboard
which had shriveled mp at the edge.
Mind. l do not actually advise you to try
this experiment, and must decline to be an.
IL
on the whole, you had better be content to
take my word for it. But our 'possum doesn't
hail from Australia or anywhere down that
way. He comes from the tropical parts OF
South or Central America, where he and q
number of cousins of his are fairly plentiful
And let me remark that, although you often
hear Of opossums in Australia these are the
only creatures having any valid claim to the
title. no others being genuine.
At first sight it seems curious, after find
I'M On wall mn rEnIa nf nnIo in q
space 40 circumscribed as the Australian re
gion, to discover little bit of the same sort
such long way of as America; and this is
an instance of what is called 'discontinuous
distribution"
We get other examples of the same thing
in the case Of the tapirs, now limited to
Sumatra and thereabouts and to tropica
America, in that of the socalled wingless
birds Of Australia. Africa and South America
being restricted to the Old World. while it.
relatives, the llama the alpaca, the vicuna
and guanaco, are confined TO the Pacific slope
of the Andes.
l could mention many others. but it's al
easy enough to understand when we come tc
read the matter by the light of Palaeontology
the study of fossils-for then we find that
these, or closely similar forms, were once
spread over the intervening space. and thai
leaving these little islands of survivors, a.
1t were.
The Marsupials in particular were in pas
ages distributed widely over the face of the
earth, and it is partly through this that We
know that at one time there was land where
what is terra firma today.
This is fact, in spite Of the sneer that
BIOLOGISTS are always ready to invent a LOST
continent in order to explain the presence Of
butterfly or beetle which puzzles them
Another very funny circumstance abou,
these Marsupias is the way in which they
initiate other animals, so to speak. don't
mean that they consciously mimic them in
the sense that monkeys are said to copy and
initiate. but that nearly every kind OF beast
finds its parallel or representative among
them
There are Marsupials which climb and live
in trees; Marsupials which burrow in the
ground; Marsupials which fly Tor something
OF sheep, feeding on grass. There are some
with the habits and appearance of rodents
others which simulate ant-eaters; and Others
again having the manners and customs o
edentates and insectivores.
The koala il as much like a bear as any
thing not bear can well be; and I'm sure
If you go to the Zoo, you will be hard to con
vince that the ursine dasyure-or Tasmaniar
devil, as it has been named, not inaptly, by
those who best know its little ways-and the
hyena-like thylacine or "wolf' Of the same
country, are not creatures which should be
classed with tigers and jackals rather than
with kangaroos or opossums. And so you
would be, too, if you were sheep-farmer in
the island which these fierce, destructive
carnivorous Marsupials inhabit.
There, l think I've said enough about the
order Marsupialia in general-too much, per.
haps-by way of preface to 'Possum, and
come to particulars-my particular opossum
Notwithstanding his "uncomphcated" brain
he was one of the chummiest, most lovable
pets l ever had; and / have had few, as
you know.
Certainly there was nothing whatever ratty
in his appearance, with his soft lemon and
lavendeIr:.gray fur, his big, impid, hazel eyes
and delicate, shell-like ears, ever quivering
in nervous anxiety to catch the faintest
ual animals; for if 'Possum had a fault il
was that ne was nocturnal-his misfortune,