346 MR. OWEN ON THE GENERATION OP THE MARSUPIAL ANIMALS. 



lips, which can be opposed to each other. Lastly, the young one did not by any of 

 its actions encourage the idea of its possessing the power of instinctively creeping 



up to the nipple. 



When the female had rested quiet for about half an hour we again examined her, 

 and found the young one not at the bottom of the pouch, but within two inches of 

 the nipple; it was breathing strongly, and moving its extremities irregularly as 

 before. I made an attempt to replace it on the nipple, but without success, and the 

 mother was then released. On an examination two days afterwards, the marsupium 

 was found empty. Every portion of the litter was carefully searched in the hopes 

 of finding the foetus, but without success. The mother, therefore, owing to the 

 disturbance of the young one, had probably destroyed it. This was a result I had 

 not expected, for the head keeper at the Zoological Farm had twice taken a mam 

 mary foetus from the nipple and pouch of the mother soon after it had been deposited 

 there, and when it did not exceed an inch in length, and it had each time again 

 become attached to the nipple. I afterwards saw this foetus attached to the nipple, 

 and it continued to grow, without having sustained any apparent injury from the 

 separation, until the death of the mother, when it was nearly ready to leave the 

 pouch. A similar result occurred to Mr. Collie, who, in the letter above quoted*, 

 observes, " I was informed, to my no small delight, that a kangaroo had been caught 

 with its little young in the sac at the teat. This young one, which has not obviously 

 increased since, is of nearly the size of the last and half the middle joint of one's 

 little finger ; its integuments are of a flesh colour, and so transparent as to permit 

 the higher coloured vessels and viscera to shine through them, whilst all its extre- 

 mities seem completely formed; and its muscular power is fully testified by its 

 evident efforts in sucking, during which it puts every part of its body into action. 

 According to the testimony of the person who preserved the mother with this little 

 one for me, the latter by no means passes the whole of its time with the lacteal 

 papilla in its mouth, but has been remarked, more than once, without having hold 

 of it. It has even been wholly removed from the sac to the person's hand, and has 

 always attached itself anew to the teat. Yesterday, on again looking at it, I gently 

 pressed with the tip of my finger the head of the little one away from the teat of 

 which it had hold, and continued pressing a little more strongly for the space of 

 a minute altogether, when the teat, which 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 mouth of the sucker. After this I 

 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 I 

 allowed the sac to close, and put the mother into her place of security. An hour 

 afterwards the young was observed still unattached, but in about two hours it had 

 hold of the teat, and was actively employed sucking." 



* Zoological Journal, No. xviii. p. 239. 



