138 VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



and Mr. G. Bennett was induced, by this information 

 to abstain from further investigation. A female spe- 

 cimen, shot in the evening of the same day, was found 

 to have two ova, rather smaller than buck-shot, in 

 the left uterus ; and in this, as in all the other female 

 specimens, much difficulty was experienced in find- 

 ing the mammary glands. The contents of the 

 cheek-pouches and stomachs always consisted of river 

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

 mingled with mud and gravel, which latter, Mr. G. 

 Bennett suggests, may be required to aid digestion. 

 River weeds were never observed to form part of the 

 food; but Mr. George Mac Leay informed the 

 author that, in a situation in which water-insects were 

 very scarce, he had shot Ornithorynchi with river 

 weeds in their pouches." 



On the 9th Oct. " a living female was taken from 

 a burrow and placed in a cask, with grass, mud, 

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

 tranquil, and apparently reconciled to its confine- 

 ment. 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 Sid- 

 ney, on the 13th of October, carrying the living 

 Ornithorhynchus with him in a small box, covered 

 with battens, between which only very narrow in- 

 tervals 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 with a bathe ; and a similar 



