THE ORNITHORHYNCHUS. 299 



birth, when they are extremely small, and that their nutriment 

 is the thick milky fluid prepared in the large mammary gland, 

 and which the mother has most probably the means of instilling 

 into the mouth of her helpless offspring.* The mamma, or teats, 

 which exist merely in a rudimentary form in the female orni- 

 thorhynchus and echidna, consequently do not fulfil the ordinary 

 function. 



Mr. Bennett having caught two full-furred young ones, in one 

 of the burrows that he examined, conveyed them to Sidney, 

 and was in hopes of sending them alive to England -, but though 

 they were at first very active and sprightly, they soon became 

 meagre, their coats lost the sleek glossy appearance indicative 

 of health, they ate little, and at length died, about five weeks 

 after their capture. His account of the habits of these animals 

 is full of interest. " They slept in various postures, sometimes 

 in an extended position, and often rolled up like a hedgehog, 

 in the form of a ball. The latter posture, which was a favourite 

 one with them, they effected by the fore-paws being placed 

 under the beak, with the head and mandibles bent down 

 towards the tail, the hind paws crossed over the mandibles, 

 and the tail turned up -, thus completing the rotundity of the 

 figure. They usually reposed side by side, like a pair of furred 

 balls, and awful little growls issued from them when disturbed 5 

 but when very sound asleep, they might be handled and examined 

 with impunity. One evening, both of them came out about 

 dusk, went as usual and ate food from the saucer ,f and then 



* In the Magazine of Natural History (New Series, 1839), vol. Hi. p. 345, 

 Mr. Ogilby tells the world that the fact is now established that these singular 

 and anomalous animals lay eggs and hatch them like birds; but it is clear that 

 he had no other authority for saying so than a mere assertion contained in a 

 letter from Professor Agardh (now Bishop of Bergen), who says that the 

 ornithorhynchus and the echidna very closely resemble birds, not only in the 

 construction of the bill, cranium, clavicles, shoulder-bones, and sternum, but 

 in their organs of generation, their undeveloped teats, their having only one 

 ovarium, and in their laying and hatching eggs. 



t The female kept by Lieutenant Maule fed during the fortnight of its cap- 

 tivity, on worms, and bread and milk, being abundantly supplied with water, 

 and is supposed to have supported her young by similar means. 



