Mr. Bennett on the Natural History of the Ornithorhynchus. 309 



men the mammary glands were scarcely obsen^able on dissection ; 

 but the left uterus was found to contain three loose ova of the size 

 of swan-shot. The right uterus was less enlarged, exhibited less 

 vascularity, and contained no ova. Preparations of the generative 

 organs of this individual, and of two other impregnated females 

 which were subsequently obtained, were forwarded by the author to 

 Mr. Owen, by whom they have been particularly described in the 

 • Philosophical Transactions' for 1834, p. 555*. 



The next day three other specimens were shot : a male and two 

 females. In the former the testes were found not to be larger than 

 very small peas, and the same fact was observed in a specimen after- 

 wards shot in the Murrumbidgee ; whereas in that first obtained, 

 they were nearly of the size of pigeons' eggs. For this difference 

 at the same season it seems difficult to account. The left uterus 

 of one of the females was found to contain two ova, and that of the 

 other a single ovum, of the size of buck-shot. As before, no ova 

 were found in the right uterus. 



On the morning of the 7 th of October, Mr. G. Bennett pro^ 

 ceeded, in company with a native, to the banks of the river to see 

 the burrow of an Ornithorhynchus, from which the natives had taken 

 the young during the previous summer. The burrow was situated 

 on a steep part of the bank ; and its entrance, concealed among the 

 long grass and other plants, was distant rather more than a foot 

 from the water's edge. Its whole extent was not laid open, the 

 natives contenting themselves with digging down upon it at stated 

 distances, their operations being guided by the introduction into 

 the burrow of a stick which indicated its direction. It took a 

 serpentine course, and measured about twenty feet in length : the 

 termination was broader than any other part, nearly oval in form, 

 and strewed with dry river-weeds, &c. From this nest the native 

 stated that he had taken in the previous season (December) three 

 young ones, about six or eight inches in length, and covered with 

 hair. In addition to the entrance above spoken of, the burrows have 

 usually a second below the surface of the water, communicating 

 with the interior just within the upper aperture. After exhibiting 

 this burrow, the native proceeded to explain the means employed in 

 tracking the Mallangongs. He pointed out on the moist clay of the 

 banks foot-marks leading to a burrow, from the bottom of which, 

 on inserting his arm, he drew forth some lumps of clay, which bore 

 evident marks of the animal's recent passage. He declared, how- 

 ever, that the inhabitant was absent, and Mr. G. Bennett was in- 

 duced, by this information, to abstain from further investigation. A 

 female specimen, shot in the evening of the same day, was found to 

 have two ova, about the size of or rather smaller than buck-shot, in 

 the left uterus ; and in this, as in all the other female specimens, 

 much difficulty was experienced in finding the mammary glands. 

 The contents of the cheek-pouches and stomachs always consisted 

 of river insects, very small shell-fish, &c., comminuted and mingled 



♦ An abstract of Mr. Owen*s paper was giren in our number for Janu- 

 ary, pp.60, 61. - 



