56 



LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



the mother to effect the same purpose would prob- 

 ably be brought under notice. 



When the foetus, which retained a firm hold of 

 the nipple, was detached, a small drop of whitish 

 fluid, a serous milk, appeared on the point of the 

 nipple, which had entered the mouth about half a 

 line. This extremity was of smaller diameter 

 than the rest of the organ, not being yet so com- 

 pressed by the contracted orifice of the mouth as 

 to form the clavate appearance which it presents 

 at a later period. The poor young one moved its 

 extremities vigorously after it was detached, but 

 made no apparent effort to apply its legs to the 

 integument of the mother, so as to creep along, 

 but seemed to be perfectly helpless with regard to 

 progressive motion. It was deposited at the bot- 

 tom of the pouch. The mother was then liberated, 

 and carefully watched for an hour. 



She immediately exhibited symptoms of unea- 

 siness, stooped down and licked herself, and 

 scratched the outside of her pouch. At last, rest- 

 ing on the tripod formed by her hind legs and tail, 

 she grasped the sides of the orifice of the pouch 

 with her forepaws, and, drawing them asunder as 

 in the act of opening a bag, she put her head into 

 the cavity as far as the eyes, and moved it about 

 in different directions. She never meddled with 

 the pouch when she was in a recumbent posture ; 

 but when apparently urged by uneasy sensations, 

 she rose and repeated the operation of drawing 

 open the bag and inserting her muzzle, keeping it 

 there sometimes for half a minute. Professor 

 Owen never observed her put her fore-legs into the 

 pouch ; they were invariably used to open it. 

 When she withdrew her head, she generally fin- 

 ished by licking the orifice of the pouch and swal- 

 lowing the secretion. After repeating the act 

 above described some dozen times, she lay down 

 and seemed to bs at ease. When she had re- 

 mained quiet for about half an hour, she was 

 again examined, and the young one was found, 

 not at the bottom of the pouch, but within two 

 inches of the nipple, breathing strongly and mov- 

 ing its extremities irregularly as before. The 

 professor made an unsuccessful attempt to replace 

 it on the nipple, and the mother was then released. 

 Two days afterwards the pouch was found empty. 

 Every portion of the litter was carefully searched, 

 but no traces of the foetus could be found. It was, 

 therefore, concluded, that the mother had proba- 

 bly destroyed it in consequence of the disturbance, 

 in accordance with the morbid habit to which I 

 have in another part of these papers alluded. It 

 is but just, however, to the professor to remark, 

 that he had no reason for anticipating this fatal 

 result ; for when the Zoological Society held the 

 farm at Kingston, the head keeper there had 

 twice taken a mammary kangaroo foetus from the 

 nipple and pouch of the mother when it did not 

 exceed an inch in length, and each time it again 

 became attached to the nipple. It continued to 

 grow without apparently having sustained any in- 

 jury from the separation, until the death of the 

 mother, when it was nearly fit for leaving the 



pouch. The person who procured Mr. Collie's 

 specimen told that gentleman that the young one 

 did not pass the whole of its time with the papilla 

 in its mouth, but had been remarked more than 

 once not having hold of it. It had even been 

 wholly removed from the pouch to the person's 

 hand, and had always attached itself anew to the 

 teat. Mr. Collie, with the tip of his finger, gently 

 pressed the head of the little one away from the 

 teat, of which it had hold, and continued pressing 

 a little more strongly for a minute altogether, 

 when the teat, that had been stretched to more 

 than an inch, came out of the young one's mouth, 

 and showed a small circular enlargement at its 

 tip, well adapting it for being retained by the 

 sucker's mouth, the opening of which seemed 

 closed in on both sides, and only sufficiently open 

 in front to admit the slender papilla. After this 

 Mr. Collie placed the extremity of the teat close 

 to the mouth of the young, and held it there for a 

 short time without perceiving any decided effort 

 to get hold of it anew ; when he allowed the 

 pouch to close and put the mother into her place 

 of security. An hour afterwards the young one 

 was observed still unattached ; but in about two 

 hours it had hold of the teat and was actively 

 sucking.* Moreover, Mr. Morgan had detached 

 a mammary foetus about the size of a Norway rat, 

 and after a separation of two hours from the nip- 

 ple it regained its hold, without sustaining any in- 

 jury from the interruption. 



But although the pigmy young one has power 

 enough to grasp the nipple and adhere firmly to it 

 by the muscular strength of its lips, it must not 

 be supposed that it is capable of drawing suste- 

 nance therefrom by its unaided efforts. So foetal 

 a rudiment would have been in a sad condition, 

 if it had depended for its supply entirely on its 

 own exertions; but bounteous Nature has pro- 

 vided the assistance without which it must have 

 perished. Geoffroyand the lamented Mr. Morgan 

 have both demonstrated the action of a muscle on 

 the mammary gland, so as to inject the milk into 

 the mouth of the adherent suckling. 



Here again is an instance of that wonderful 

 adaptation of creative power, which must strike 

 every one not absolutely petrified. 



But, it may be objected, you can hardly assert 

 that the young one's efforts of suciion should al- 

 ways coincide w;jh the injecting acts of the moth- 

 er ; and you must allow that if at any time there 

 should be no such coincidence, the milk would be 

 injected into the larynx, and so suffocate the fcetus. 



Most true ; but the same Power that willed the 

 birth of the creature in such an embryotic condi- 

 tion has guarded against the possibility of this 

 fatal result. The epiglottis and arytenoid carti- 

 lages are elongated and approximated, and the slit 

 of the glottis is consequently placed at the apex of 

 a conical larynx, which projects, as in the whales, 

 into the posterior nostrils, where it is closely em- 

 braced by the muscles of the soft palate. Thus is 



* Zool. Journ., vol. r. 



