320 Prof. Owen on the Ornithorhynclius. 



ment of the muscles for compressing the mammary glands I had 

 described in a previous memoir (Phil. Trans. 1832, p. 517). 



M. Verraux adds : — " The young ones, while suckling, con- 

 tinually rub or triturate the mother's belly with their fore-feet, 

 and sometimes with their hind-feet." " At the end of fifteen to 

 twenty days the new-born are covered with a silky hair and are 

 able to swim" (Revue Zool. p. 132). 



And he likewise describes another mode in which the young 

 obtain their lacteal nourishment : — " I redoubled my attention 

 and care, and by dint of perseverance, having at my disposition 

 (always on the banks of the New Norfolk) a pretty considerable 

 number of adults and young, I saw the latter accompany their 

 mothers, with which they played, especially when they were too 

 far from the bank to take their nourishment. I distinguished 

 very well that when they wished to procure it they profited by 

 the moment when the mother was amongst the aquatic plants, 

 near the land, and where there was no current. The female 

 having her back exposed, one can easily conceive that on the ex- 

 ercise of a strong pressure, the milk would float to a httle di- 

 stance, and that the young might suck it up with facility ; this 

 it does, turning about so as to lose as little as possible. The 

 manoeuvre is the more easy to be distinguished, since one can 

 see the beak move with rapidity. I cannot better compare the 

 greasy liquid of the female than to the iridescent colours pro- 

 duced by the solar rays upon stagnant water. I have witnessed 

 the same fact repeated daily and nightly. I have also remarked 

 that the young, when it was fatigued, climbed upon the mother's 

 back, who brought it to land, where it caressed her*." 



With regard to the anomalous weapon of the hind-legs of the 



* ** J'examinai aussi avec le plus grand soin la structure des mandibules 

 du jeune, et la trouvant conforme a mes idees je compris parfaitement com- 

 ment il pouvait obtenir sa nourriture. Je redoublais d'attention et de soin, 

 a force de perseverance, ayant a ma portee (toujours sur les rives de New 

 Norfolk) un nombre assez considerables d'adultes et de jeunes; je vis ces 

 derniers accompagner leurs meies avec laquelle ilsjouaient, surtout lorsqu'ils 

 ^taient trop eloignes du bord pour prendre leur nourriture. Je distinguai 

 tres-bien que lorsqu'ils voulaient se la procurer, ils profitaient du moment 

 oil la mere se trouvait parmi les herbes aquatiques, a peu de distance de la 

 terre, la oii il n'y a aucun courant. La femelle ayant tout le dos decouvert, 

 I'on concoit aisement qu'une fois la pressure fortement exercee, le lait sur- 

 nageait a peu de distance, et que le jeune pouvait le humer " (suck it up) 

 " avec facilite ; chose qu'il fait en'tournoyant afin d'en perdre le moins pos- 

 sible. Cette manoeuvre est d'autant plus facile a distinguer, qu'on voit le 

 bee se mouvoir avec celerite. Je ne peux mieux comparer le liquide grais- 

 seux de la femelle, qu'aux couleurs irisees produites par les rayons solaires 

 sur I'eau croupie. J'ai vu le meme fait se repeter tous les jours et toutesles 

 nuits. J'ai remarqu6 aussi, que le jeune, lorsqu'il 6tait fatigue, grimpait sur 

 le dos de la mere, qui se dirigeait sur la terre, oil il la caressait." — Revue 

 Zoologique^ 1848, p. 131, note. 



