young ones, about six or eiglit inches iii length, and covered vilh 

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

 usually a second below the surface of the water, communicating 

 ■vvith the interior just vvithin 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 ■vvhich, 

 on inserting his arm, he dre\v forth some lumps of clay, -vv-hich 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 šame 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 ahvays consisted 

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

 "with mud or gravel, which latter, Rlr. G. Bennett suggests, may be 

 reąuired to aid digestion. River- weeds -vvere never observed to form 

 part of the food ; but Mr. George MacLeay informed the author 

 that in a situation in Avhich water-insects were very scarce he had 

 shot Ornithoi-hynchi \vith river-vveeds in their pouches. 



Similar excursions \vere made on the Sth and 9th of October ; 

 and on the latter day one of the burro\vs wa? explored. The entrance 

 of this burrow was situated on a moderately steep bank, abounding 

 Avith long \viry grass and shrubs, at the distance of about five feet 

 from the vi'ater's edge : its course lay in a serpentine direction up 

 the bank, approaching nearer to the surface of the earth towards its 

 termination. At this part it was expanded to form a chamber suf- 

 ficiently capacious for the reception of the animal and her young, 

 and measured one foot in length by six inches in breadth. Its 

 u'hole length, from the entrance to the termination, was twenty 

 feet ; narrowing as it receded from the entrance, \vhere it measured 

 one foot three inches in depth, and one foot one inch in breadth, and 

 in the intermediate part becoming scarcely larger than the usual 

 breadth of the animal when uncontracted. 



From this burrow a living female was taken, and placed in a cask, 

 with grass, mud, water, &c. ; and in this situation it soon became 

 tranąuil, and apparently reconciled to its confinement. Hoping that 

 he had now obtained the means, should his captive prove to have 

 been impregnated, of determining the character of the excluded pro- 

 duct, Mr. G. Bennett set out on his return for Sidney, on the 13th 

 of October, carrying the living Ornithorhynchus \vith him in a small 

 box, covered with battens, betvveen which only very narro\v intervals 

 ■were left. 



The next morning, tying a long cord to its leg, he roused it and 

 placed it on the bank of the river, in order to indulge it vvith a bathe ; 

 and a similar indulgence \vas granted to it on the second day of its 

 journey. On these occasions it soon found its way into the water, 

 and travelled up the stream, apparently delighting in those places 



