7 2 Zoological Society. 



" By the care of a soldier of the 39th Regiment who was stationed 

 at a post on the Fish River, a mountain stream abounding with Pin- 

 ty/?i,several nests ot this shy and extraordinary animal were discovered. 



"The Platypus burrows in the banks of rivers, choosing generallv a 

 spot where the water is deep and sluggish, and the bank precipitous 

 and covered with reeds or overhung by trees. Considerably beneath 

 the level of the stream's surface is the main entrance to a narrow pas- 

 sage which leads directly into the bank, bearing away from the river 

 (at a right angle to it) and gradually rising above its highest water- 

 mark. At the distance of some few yards from the river's edge this 

 passage branches into two others which, describing each a circular 

 course to the right and left, unite again in the nest itself, which is a 

 roomy excavation , lined with leaves and moss, and situated seldom more 

 than twelve yards from the water, or less than two feet beneath the sur- 

 face of the earth. Several of their nests were, with considerable labour 

 and difficulty, discovered. No eggs were found in a perfect state, but 

 pieces of a substance resembling egg-shell were picked out of the 

 debris of the nest. In the insides of several female Platypi which 

 were shot, eggs were found of the size of a large musket-ball and 

 downwards, imperfectly formed however, i. e. without the hard outer 

 shell, which prevented their preservation." 



In another part of his letter Mr. Maule states, that in one of the 

 nests he was fortunate enough to secure an old female and two young. 

 The female lived for about two weeks on worms and bread and milk, 

 being abundantly supplied with water, and supported her young, as 

 it was supposed, by similar means. She was killed by accident on 

 the fourteenth day after her capture, and on skinning her while yet 

 warm, it was observed that milk oozed through the fur on the stomach, 

 although no teats were visible on the most minute inspection : but on 

 proceeding with the operation two teats or canals were discovered, 

 both of which contained milk. 



The body of the individual last referred to (together with several 

 others) has been preserved in spirit to be transmitted to Dr. Weather- 

 head, who stated his intention of examining it anatomically on its 

 arrival, and of laying before the Committee the result of his observa- 

 tions on this interesting subject. 



It was remarked, that the existence of milk in the situation described 

 by Lieut. Maule is fully confirmatory of the correctness of the de- 

 ductions made by Mr. Owen from the minute dissection of several 

 individuals (including one in the Society's collection presented by 

 Capt. Mallard, R. N., Corr. Memb. Z. S.), that the glands discovered 

 by M. Meckel are really mammary. This opinion, with the anato- 

 mical reasons on which it was founded, have been lately laid by Mr. 

 Owen before the Royal Society in a paper which is published in the 

 second Part of the Philosophical Transactions for J 832, and which 

 has been noticed in the first volume of Phil. Mag. and Journal of 

 Science, p. 384-. Mr. Owen's dissections, however, though they 

 established the existence of numerous minute tubes leading from the 

 glands in question through the skin where it was covered by the wool, 

 did not enable him to detect any canals so large as would appear to be 

 indicated in Lieut. Maule's letter. 



