WOMBATS 181

bandicoots, Paramelid@, are the so-called marsupial
rat and marsupial rabbit.

The three families that are left belong to the
group with the large incisors, and include the genera
that agree more with the popular notion as to what a
marsupial should look like. These are the wombats,
of which there are three species, clumsy, marmot-like

 

OPOSSUM WITH ITS YOUNG

animals, with long claws and only an apology for a
tail, the phalangers, or Australian opossums, and the
kangaroos. The phalangers—the colonial name of
opossum is now by general consent discouraged—
vary much in habits; they are found not only in
Australia, but in New Guinea and the neighbouring
islands, and some of them have an extension of