The author, having received a male wombat alive from one of the islands in Bass’s Straits, had an opportunity of observing its habits in a domesticated state, and of examining the peculiarities of its internal formation after death, particularly the mechanism of the bones and muscles of its hind legs, which have not been described either by Geoffroy, in his account of its internal form, or by Cuvier, who has described several parts of its internal structure in his
Lecons d’Anatomie Comparée
. The stomach of the wombat resembles closely that of the beaver, and differs so much from that of the kanguroo, and other animals of the opossum tribe, that it forms an extraordinary peculiarity. An account of the dissection of a female wombat having been received from the late Mr. Bell, Surgeon to the Colony at New South Wales, Mr. Home has inserted Mr. Bell’s description, with remarks especially on the state of the uterus, which was double, and impregnated on each side; that on the right side was as large as a pullet’s egg. The os tincæ was filled with a thick gelatinous substance. When a longitudinal incision was made into its cavity, its coats were found lined with the same jelly, in the centre of which was an embryo wrapped up in very fine membranes, that appeared to have no connexion by vessels with either the uterus or the gelatinous matter. These facts, says Mr. Home, throw considerable light on the mode of propagation of this very curious tribe of animals. They confirm, in the most satisfactory manner, the observations contained in a former paper on the kanguroo, which required further evidence, as the specimen on which the observations were made had been sent to England preserved in spirits, and the parts had become very indistinct, from being coagulated and long kept.
An account of some peculiarities in the anatomical structure of the wombat, with observations on the female organs of generation
