įsi 



the orificc, or in scratching the exterior. Wl)en she vvithdrew her 

 head, she generally conchided by licking the orifice of tlie pouch 

 and s\vallowing the secretion. 



" After repeating the above act of insertion at least a dozen times, 

 she lay down and seemed at ease. When she had rested ąuietly 

 about a quarter of an hour we examined her again, and found the 

 young one not at the bottom of the pouch, but vvithin 2 inches of 

 the nipple. It was moving its extiemities, and respiring as vigorously 

 as before. 1 attempted to replace it on the nipple, but without 

 success ; it was therefore left in the pouch, and the mother vvas 

 released. 



"My engageraents prevented me frorn visitingthe Gardens until 

 the day but one after this examination, when at 10 a.m, I examined 

 the marsupiuni ; but the foetus was gone. We searched very carefully 

 every portion of the htter, &c., in the hope of finding it, but with- 

 out success. 1 concluded, therefore, that the foetus had died, and 

 that the mother had probably eaten it. 



" From what I observed of the mother after the separation of the 

 foetus, I should conclude that parturition takes place in the erect 

 and not in the recumbent posture ; and on perceiving the ease with 

 which she can reach with her mouth the orifices of the vagina and 

 pouch, a means adeąuate to -the removal of the young from the one 

 to the olher became obvious. I should suppose the fore pan-s not 

 to be used for the transmission of the foetus, but to keep open the 

 pouch ready for its reception, while the mouth vvould be the means 

 by vvhich it would be deposited therein, and perhaps held over a 

 nipple till the mother felt the sensitive extremity grasped by the 

 young one. 



<» This mode of removal is consistent with analogy. Cats, Dogs 

 and Mice transport their young by the mouth. 



" I ought, perhaps, to have forborne this hypothesis when an op- 

 portunity of actualiy observing the process may so soon be afforded ; 

 but it was suggested by observing the actions of the mother after 

 an artificial separation of the foetus from the nipple, and accords 

 with the phaenomena better, I think, than any that have previously 

 been proposed. There is no internal passage ; there is no power of 

 bringing the mouth of the vagma in contact vvith that of the pouch, 

 either in the living or dead Kangaroo, without lesion of the parts ; 

 the fore paws could not so effectually protect the tender embryo 

 from the external air as the lips, nor so safely ensure its passage ; 

 and the young one itself did not by any of its actions give the idea 

 of its having the power of creeping up along the fur to the pouch 

 or nipple. 



" Where, however, the structure of the pouch, as in Perameles 

 and some South American Opossums, is different, the mother's aid 

 may be less necessary; but the period of gestation being now as- 

 certained, every endeavour will be made to clear up this part of the 

 problem ex visu." 



