The marsupials, a second sub-class, come next to the oviparous monotremes, the oldest of the mammals. But as in their case the food-yelk is already atrophied, and the little ovum develops within the mother's body, the partial cleavage has been reconverted into total. One section of the marsupials still show points of agreement with the monotremes, while another section of them, according to the splendid investigations of Selenka, form a connecting-link between these and the placentals. (FIGURE 1.64. Blastula of the opossum (Didelphys). (From Selenka.) a animal pole of the blastula, v vegetal pole, en mother-cell of the entoderm, ex ectodermic cells, s spermia, ib unnucleated yelk-balls (remainder of the food-yelk), p albumin membrane.) The fertilised ovum of the opossum (Didelphys) divides, according to Selenka, first into two, then four, then eight equal cells; hence the segmentation is at first equal or homogeneous. But in the course of the cleavage a larger cell, distinguished by its less clear plasm and its containing more yelk-granules (the mother cell of the entoderm, Figure 1.64 en), separates from the others; the latter multiply more rapidly than the former. As, further, a quantity of fluid gathers in the morula, we get a round blastula, the wall of which is of varying thickness, like that of the amphioxus (Figure 1.38 E) and the amphibia (Figure 1.45). The upper or animal hemisphere is formed of a large number of small cells; the lower or vegetal hemisphere of a small number of large cells. One of the latter, distinguished by its size (Figure 1.64 en), lies at the vegetal pole of the blastula-axis, at the point where the primitive mouth afterwards appears. This is the mother-cell of the entoderm; it now begins to multiply by cleavage, and the daughter-cells (Figure 1.65 i) spread out from this spot over the inner surface of the blastula, though at first only over the vegetal hemisphere. The less clear entodermic cells (i) are distinguished at first by their rounder shape and darker nuclei from the higher, clearer, and longer entodermic cells (e), afterwards both are greatly flattened, the inner blastodermic cells more than the outer. (FIGURE 1.65. Blastula of the opossum (Didelphys) at the beginning of gastrulation. (From Selenka.) e ectoderm, i entoderm; a animal pole, u primitive mouth at the vegetal pole, f segmentation-cavity, d unnucleated yelk-balls (relics of the reduced food-yelk), c nucleated curd (without yelk-granules). FIGURE 1.66. Oval gastrula of the opossum (Didelphys), about eight hours old. (From Selenka) (external view).) The unnucleated yelk-balls and curd (Figure 1.65 d) that we find in the fluid of the blastula in these marsupials are very remarkable; they are the relics of the atrophied food-yelk, which was developed in their ancestors, the monotremes, and in the reptiles.