MR. OWEN ON THE GENERATION OF THE MARSUPIAL ANIMALS. 357 



Sir EvERARD Home* and M. Leuckart-}- have both observed these parts of the gene- 

 rative system distended with a gelatinous adhesive matter, with irregular fibrous 

 masses intermixed. One of these substances, which was found in the mesial cul de 

 sac, Sir Everard compares to the vertebral column and occipital bone of a foetus, 

 and has given a figure of it as such. He appears indeed to have been considerably 

 influenced by this circumstance in forming his theory of marsupial generation. 

 M. Leuckart, who also found several of these bodies, both in the lateral canals and 

 middle cavity, describes them as consisting of a homogeneous fibro-cartilaginous 

 substance, and compares them to a mola, or false conception, but observes that there 

 was nothing in their structure that would permit him to form a conclusion that they 

 were parts of a foetus. In this instance, the middle cavity and the two thirds of 

 the lateral canals nearest to it were filled with 'a pultaceous yellowish jnucus.' 



The female organs of the Kangaroo in this condition were also sent over from 

 New South Wales by Mr. G. Bennett, along with the impregnated uterus described, 

 accompanied with the following note : "Bottle, No. 2. The uterus of a Kangaroo 

 of the common species, the adjacent parts being preserved. This one had the ap- 

 pearance of having just received the male ; and we killed a male specimen, having 

 the appearance of being lately with the female, half an hour afterwards on the same 

 range. The cornua uteri?" (vaginal canals) "are evidently diseased, containing a hard 

 cheesy substance. (This has not been hardened by the spirit, for it was about the 

 same consistence when 1 examined it in the recent state.)" 



Mr. Bennett also observes, that there was no young one in the pouch of this 

 female ; but one of the nipples was largely developed, from which he expressed milk. 

 As this is precisely the condition in which the female at the Zoological Gardens was 

 when she received the male, it corroborates Mr. Bennett's supposition of the same 

 circumstance having recently preceded the death of the female which he examined, 

 and serves to elucidate in some degree the nature and cause of those appearances, 

 which he regarded as the product of disease. 



In the vaginae of this animal, as in those examined by Home and Leuckart, por- 

 tions of dense fibrous substance, varying in length from half an inch to an inch, and 

 from one to three lines in thickness, were inclosed in a thick mucus. The fibrous 

 substances had an irregular surface, and in some instances a rather brittle fracture : 

 they were of a homogeneous texture when cut with the knife, (and such is also the 

 composition of the substance described by Sir Everard Home,) and they most 

 resemble those coagulated masses that are found in the vesiculae seminales and 

 sometimes in the urethra of the Agouti, Capromys, Guinea-pig, and others of the 

 Rodent order. 



Since the dissection of Mr. Bennett s specimen, I have had the opportunity of 

 observing the female organs of another Kangaroo, which were obligingly submitted 

 to my examination by Professor Green : they presented the same appearances as 



* Philosophical Transactions, vol. Ixxxv. p. 228. f Meckel's Archiv fur Physiologic, torn. viii. p. 442. 

 MDCCCXXXIV. 3 A 



