Observations on certain parts of the animal oeconomy. Inclusive of several papers from the Philosophical transactions, etc / by John Hunter ... With notes by Richard Owen.
- John Hunter
- Date:
- 1840
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Observations on certain parts of the animal oeconomy. Inclusive of several papers from the Philosophical transactions, etc / by John Hunter ... With notes by Richard Owen. Source: Wellcome Collection.
483/494 page 475
![largest. From the nails on the two middle toes one would suppose that the animal burrowed. Their hind legs are long, and it is in their power to stand either on the whole foot, or on the toes only. On the hind legs are three toes, the middle one large, and the two side ones short ;* the tail is long. The hair on the body is rather thin ; it is of two kinds, a fur, and a long hair, which last becomes exterior from its length. The fur is the finest, and is composed of serpentine hairs; the long hair is stronger, and is also serpentine, for more than two-thirds of its length near to the skin, and termi- nates in a pretty strong pointed end, like the quill of a hedgehog ; it is of a brownish-gray colour, something like the brown or gray rabbit, with a tinge of a greenish-yellow. It has a pouch on the lower part of the belly ; the mouth opens forwards, and the cavity extends backwards to the pubis, where it terminates; on the abdominal surface of this pouch are four nipples or two pair, each pair placed very near the other.t The Hepoona Roo.} This animal is of the size of a small rabbit; it has a broad flat body; the head a good deal resembles that of the squirrel ; the eyes are full, prominent, and large ; the ears broad and thin ; its legs short, and its tail very long. Between the fore and hind legs, on each side, is placed a doubling of the skin of the side, which, when the legs are extended laterally, is as it were pulled out, forming a broad lateral wing or fin, and when the legsare made use of in walking, this skin, by its elasticity, is drawn close to the side of the animal, and forms a kind of ridge, on which the hair has a peculiar appearance. In this respect itis very similar to the flying squirrel of America. It has five toes, on each fore foot, with sharp nails. The hind- foot has also five toes, but differs considerably from the fore-foot ; one of the toes may be called a thumb, having a broad nail, some- thing like that of the monkey or opossum. What answers to the fore and middle toes are united in one common covering, and ap- pear like one toe with two nails; this is somewhat similar to the kangaroo. ‘The two other toes are in the common form; these * [There are four toes on this foot, as in the great kangaroo, but the two inner ones are so conjoined by a common sheath of integument as to act as but one. | + [The genera Macropus and Hypsiprymnus are principally distinguished from the other marsupialia anatomically by having a large stomach, complicated with saceuli, produced as in the colon, by being puckered upon longitudinal bands. ] + [This animal is the type of the genus Pteawrus, which is characterized by tee 6 oe the following dental formula: incisors =, molares spuriz 5-4, molares tubercu- lati 4 = 34, It is the largest known species, and is the Pefaurus Taguanoides of Desmarest, and the Didelphys Pelaurus of Shaw. : The original specimen, deseribed and figured in White’s Appendix, is pre- served in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. ]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33292292_0483.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
