471 



PAPERS READ. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE FEMORAL GLAND OF 

 ORNITHORHYNCHUS AND ITS SECRETION ; 

 TOGETHER WITH AN EXPERIMENTAL EN- 

 QUIRY CONCERNING ITS SUPPOSED TOXIC 

 ACTION. 



By C. J. Martin, M.B., B.Sc. (Lond.), and Fraxk Tidswell, 

 M.B., Ch.M. (Sydney). 



(From the Pit ij4oIo'j leal Laboratory of the University of Sydney. ) 



(Plates XXVIII. -XXXI.) 



In the year 1801 Sir Everard (then Mr.) Home examined 

 some specimens of Platypus sent to England by Sir Joseph Banks, 

 and remarked* as follows with regard to the spur : — 



" In the male, just at the setting on of the heel, there is a 

 strong crooked spur | an inch long, with a sharp point, which has 

 a joint between it and the foot, and is capable of motion in two 



directions It is probably by means of these spurs or 



hooks that the female is kept fi^om withdrawing herself in the act 

 of copulation, since they are very conveniently placed for lajang 

 hold of her body on that particular occasion."! 



In 1817 an extract from a letter written by Sir John Jamieson 

 was read to the Linnean Society of London, ; in which, in refer- 

 ence to Ornithorhynchiis, he writes : — 



*A Description of the Anatomy of the Orinthorhi/nrhu.s jjaradoxu^. Phil 

 Trans. 1802, p. 72. 



t Home's Comp. Anat. Vol. iii. p. 360 (1823). 



X Xote on the Venomous Nature of Wounrls inflicted by the Spurs of the 

 male Ornithorhynchus. Trans. Linn. 8oc. Vol. xii. p. 584 (1818). 



