166 PROF. OWEN ON ORNITHORHYNCHUS. [ Mar. 6, 
would reach that height: and such floods are not common, as the 
opposite side of the creek is flat. 
«The Hehidna, or Native Porcupine, is very numerous in the 
Gomarren Scrub, Merugaden, lately a portion of Gowrie run, but 
now the homes of many free selectors. A friend, Mr. Wilcox, 
caught four for me, but injudiciously placed them in his garden, 
from which they soon escaped by burrowing. I regretted this, as it 
was the supposed season of the year for their breeding. They are 
often found about the nests of the Brush-Turkeys (Talegalla). A 
lad one day brought me a young one which I considered was about 
two months old.’ ” 
These notes, besides the interest of the direct observations on the 
burrows and nests of the Ornithorhynchus, and the success of the 
experiment of feeding the young with lukewarm slightly sweetened 
milk, for three days, which in some degree supports the conclusions 
on the function of the abdominal glands of the Monotremes’, affords 
a valuable indication of the probable period at which the female Orni- 
thorhynchus may be got in the impregnated state. The specimen with 
uterine ova, described in ‘ Phil. Trans.’ 1834, p. 555, was shot by Dr. 
Bennett, on the 7th October ; the first pair of young were discovered 
by his son on the 28th October; the second pair, discovered on the 
19th November, were somewhat smaller. The young Ornithorhyncht 
taken in 1832 by Dr. Bennett, from a nest on the banks of the Mur- 
rumbidgee river, which young measured only 14 inch in length (in 
a straight line), and were considered by him to have been recently 
brought forth’, were discovered on the 8th December. 
From this it may be inferred that the breeding-season of the Or- 
nithorhynchus has a certain range in time. They may bring forth 
in one river a few weeks earlier or later than in another ; and there 
seems to be a difference of a week or two, in this respect, in the same 
river. But the months of September, October, and November are 
those in which there seems to be most chance of obtaining a preg- 
nant Platypus. 
Of the breeding-season of the Hchidnu I have not yet received as 
satisfactory indications. It would seem to be earlier in the year, as 
the young in the rudimental pouch, described and figured in the 
paper above cited *, was stated to have been found, with the mother 
(which was captured), on the 12th August. The month of July might 
be the time favourable for obtaining a female Echidna in the impreg- 
nated state. As the Echidna is very numerous in a locality which 
may be within the range of observation of the author of the preceding 
‘Notes,’ I feel sanguine that the means of determining the uterine 
and foetal membranes and appendages of the Monotremes will be 
afforded to the anatomist at no great distance of time. 
1 « Phil. Trans,’ 1832, p. 517, and ‘ Phil. Trans,’ 1865, p. 671. 
2 «Phil. Trans.’ 1834, p. 566, 8 Phil, Trans. 1865, p. 678. 
