BY J. J. FLETCHER, M.A., B.Sc. 803 



branes were separated from one another by a layer of connective 

 tissue -§• mm. thick. 



In 1868 the same observer * examined a second adult H. 

 Bennett ii, which had a mammary foetus from 2-2-| in. long in the 

 pouch. In this specimen also the median vaginal canal directly 

 communicated with the urogenital canal. 



The third volume of Prof. Owen's Comp. Anatomy was 

 published in 1868, but beyond the reference to H. Bennettii 

 already quoted, it does not further allude to the subject now in 

 review. 



Prof. Pagenstecher f of Heidelberg in 1871 examined the 

 organs of a pregnant female Macropus major in which he found 

 the median vaginal cul-de-sac closed. 



The late Prof. G-arrod % writing in 1875, of Dorcopsis luctuosa 

 says : the " uterus is perfectly macropine, as are the vaginae. No 

 direct communication could be found between the uterine pouch 

 of the vagina and the common vaginal canal." 



In 1879, Alix § published a preliminary account of his 

 researches upon the female organs of certain kangaroos. He 

 says that with regard to Halmaturus, he has had the opportunity 

 of several times verifying his previous observation. He also says 

 that in a specimen of M. major he met with the closed condition 

 as described by Cuvier and Owen. Further in two specimens 

 of Macropus rufus, which were mother and daughter, the latter 

 being one-third the size of the former, the same observer found 

 that the direct communication was present in the one and absent 

 in the other. Finally Alix says he has found the direct com- 

 munication in a Wombat. 



*Der Zoologishe Garten, Frankfurt, Vol. ix., 1869. 

 tAnn. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1871, pp. 292-294, 



+P.Z.S., 1875. 

 §Bull. Socg Zool- de France, 1879, p< 118. 



