The dissections upon which the following account of the
limb myology of the Koala is based were carried out at the
Anatomical Laboratory of Melbourne University, under the
superintendence of Professor Berry; and the work forms part
of an extensive enquiry into the anatomy of the whole animal.
Three specimens of the Phascolarctus Cinereus were placed
at my disposal - an adult male, an adult female, and a young
female, and Professor Berry has kindly allowed me to use the
material for this thesis.
In the dissection of these three animals several peculiar -
ities in the arrangement of the muscles were met with, which
have not been hitherto recorded, and as these were constant in
each of the three specimens, they may be regarded as definite
and characteristic, and not merely individual variations.
The literature on the subject is limited and consists of
Professor Youngs "Muscular Anatonzr of the Koala" (Jour.Ana t. &
Phys, vol.XVI p.217) and Professor Macalister's "Muscular Anatol
of the Koala" (Ann.Mag.Nat.Hiat,1872) Professor Cunningham has
given a very detailed account of the muscles of the pes in the
"Challenger Reports" - vol.V, part XVI.
In his paper "On the Myology of Notoryctes Typhlops ",
Professor Wilson of Sydney makes some comparative observations
on a few individual muscles, from his own dissections, of Koala.
The descriptions of the muscles have been illustrated by
photographs, which accompany this manuscript, in a separate
volume.
I propose to give first an account of each muscle, its
origin, course, and insertion, and general description; also
its nerve supply when that is necessary for its differentiation.
At the conclusion of the paper I have given a resume of those
muscles which differ from the descriptions of them given by
former observers; at the same time adding comparative notes of
previous records of these muscles in Koala, and also in the other
members of the Marsupialia, whose myology has been recorded, and
to which I have had access.
