Memoir on the reproduction of the opossum, Didelphis virginiana / by Ch.D. Meigs.

  • Meigs, Charles D. (Charles Delucena), 1792-1869.
Date:
[1847]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir on the reproduction of the opossum, Didelphis virginiana / by Ch.D. Meigs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    I 160 MEMOIR ON THE REPRODUCTION OF THE OPOSSUM. The skin was rose-coloured, and translucent; beneath which could be seen the ribs. No hairs on the skin; which, under the doublet, was wrinkled and very loose. It moved strongly by means of its fore-arms. l1 raised its snout or muzzle off the glass, by the act of extension of its head, and by lifting itself on the fore-paws. • No motions in the hind legs, which are very small; mere buds. It turned itself over, and moved round the glass in various directions. It now respired by the two nostrils and by the mouth. The cartilages of the nostrils seem to be bare, or uncovered, and sit on the anterior face of a conical pit or dimple. It was easy to perceive that the air entered and escaped through all three of the orifices, by the bubbles of milk or mucus resting on the several apertures. The embryo was dead at ten minutes past nine o’clock; having survived its separation one hour and twenty-nine minutes, during which it carried on a true respiratory, pulmonic life; notwithstanding it had been much handled, and exposed to the cold air of the street. There were no nails on the hinder toes; those of the fore-paw are faithfully represented in the figure annexed. They were of a red hue. The iris was very visible, of a faint blue colour; no appearance of any palpebral raphe; the organ of vision quite covered beneath the skin—through which it is seen. No orifice of an ear—but a whitish-coloured cicatrice or scar, beneath which the organ is hidden. No raphe of the lips, running towards the angle of the future enormous mouth, or gape. I have already given the measure of the fore-arm; which possessed the power of pro- nation and supination very perfectly. The paws were very prehensile. I pinned it, on its back, to a flat cork, and completely extended it. Introducing a dis- secting needle into the mouth, I split with it the lip, lower jaw, and throat, down to the sternum—when I discovered a vast milk-white tongue—so enormous, in proportion, as to convince me that the tongue alone constituted fully one-third of the entire weight of the head. See its outline in the former figure, and in the one annexed.