143 



reappear, that a fair shot at them can be obtained. A near shot is 

 absolutely i-equisite ; and when wounded they usually sink immedi- 

 ately, but quickly reappear on the surface. 



A male specimen was shot, and brought out by the dog, on the 

 following morning. In a few minutes it revived, and ran along the 

 ground, instinctively endeiavouring to regain the water, but did not 

 survive more than twenty-five minutes. On this individual Mr. G. 

 Bennett made various experiments, with the view of ascertaining 

 the truth of the reports so extensively circulated of the injurious 

 effects resulting from wounds iaflicted by the spur. In no way, 

 however, could he induce the animal to make use of its spurs as 

 weapons of offence ; although in its struggles to escape, his hands 

 were slightly scratched by the hind claws, and even, in consequence 

 of the position in which he held it, by the spur also. The result of 

 several subsequent repetitions of the expei-iment Avith animals not 

 in a wounded state was the same. The natives, too, never seem fear- 

 ful of handling the male Oriiithorhynckiis alive. 



On the evening of the same day a female Avas shot, which died 

 almost immediately on being taken out of the water. In this .speci- 

 men the mammary glands were scarcely observable on dissection ; 

 but the left uterus was found to contain three loose ova of the size 

 of swan-shot. The right uterus was less enlarged, exhibited less 

 vascularity, and contained no ova. Preparations of the generative 

 organs of this individual, and of tvv^o other impregnated females 

 which were subsequently obtained, were forwarded by the author to 

 Mr. Owen, by whom they have been particularly described in the 

 ' Philosophical Transactions' for 1834, p. 555. 



The next day three other specimens were shot : a male and two 

 females. In the former the testes were found not to be larger than 

 very small peas, and the same fact was observed in a specimen after- 

 wards shot in the Murrumbidgee ; whereas in that first obtained, 

 they were nearly of the size of pigeons' eggs. For this difference 

 at the same season it seems difficult to account. The left uterus 

 of one of the females was found to contain two ova, and that of the 

 other a single ovu7n, of the size of buck-shot. As before, no ova 

 were found in the right uterus. 



On the morning of the 7th of October, Mr. G. Bennett pro- 

 ceeded, in company with a native, to the banks of the river to see 

 the burrow of an Ornithorhynchus, from which the natives had taken 

 the young during the previous summer. The burrow was situated 

 on a steep part of the bank ; and its entrance, concealed among, the 

 long grass and other plants, was distant rather more than a foot 

 from the water's edge. Its whole extent was not laid open, the 

 natives contenting themselves with digging down upon it at stated 

 distances, their operations being guided by the introduction into 

 the burrow of a stick which indicated its direction. It took a 

 serpentine course, and measured about twenty feet in length : the 

 termination was broader than any other part, nearly oval in form, 

 and strewed with dry river-weeds, &c. From this nest the native 

 stated that he had taken in the previous season (December) three 



