1 H. 



young ones, about six or eight inches in length, and covered with 

 hair. In addition to the entrance above spoken of, the burrows have 

 usually a second below the surface of the water, communicating 

 ■with the interior just within the upper aperture. After exhibiting 

 this burrow, the native proceeded to explain the means employed in 

 tracking the Mallamjongs. He pointed out on the moist clay of the 

 banks foot-marks leading to a burrow, from the bottom of which, 

 on inserting his arm, he drew forth some lumps of clay, which bore 

 evident marks of the animal's recent passage. He declared, how- 

 ever, that the inhabitant was absent, and Mr. G. Bennett was in- 

 duced, by this information, to abstain from further investigation. A 

 female specimen, shot in the evening of the same day, was found to 

 have two ova, about the size of or rather smaller than buck-shot, in 

 the left uterus ; and in this, as in all the other female specimens, 

 much difficulty was experienced in finding the mammary glands. 

 The contents of the cheek-pouches and stomachs always consisted 

 of river insects, very small shell-fish, &c., comminuted and mingled 

 with mud or gravel, which latter, Mr. G. Bennett suggests, may be 

 required to aid digestion. River-weeds were never observed to form 

 part of the food ; but Mr. George MacLeay informed the author 

 that in a situation in which water-insects were very scarce he had 

 shot Ornithorhynchi with river-Aveeds in their pouches. 



Similar excursions were made on the 8th and 9th of October ; 

 and on the latter day one of the burrows was explored. The entrance 

 of this burrow was situated on a moderately steep bank, abounding 

 with long wiry grass and shrubs, at the distance of about five feet 

 from the water's edge : its course lay in a serpentine direction up 

 the bank, approaching nearer to the surface of the earth towards its 

 termination. At this part it was expanded to form a chamber suf- 

 ficiently capacious for the reception of the animal and her young, 

 and measured one foot in length by six inches in breadth. Its 

 whole length, from the entrance to the termination, was twenty 

 feet ; narrowing as it receded from the entrance, where it measured 

 one foot three inches in depth, and one foot one inch in breadth, and 

 in the intermediate part becoming scarcely larger than the usual 

 breadth of the animal when uncontracted. 



From this burrow a living female was taken, and placed in a cask, 

 with grass, mud, water, &c. ; and in this situation it soon became 

 tranquil, and apparently reconciled to its confinement. Hoping that 

 he had now obtained the means, should his captive prove to have 

 been impregnated, of determining the character of the excluded pro- 

 duct, Mr. G. Bennett set out on his return for Sidney, on the 13th 

 of October, carrying the living Ornithorhynchus with him in a small 

 box, covered with battens, between which only very narrow intervals 

 were left. 



The next morning, tying a long cord to its leg, he roused it and 

 placed it on the bank of the river, in order to indulge it with a bathe ; 

 and a similar indulgence was granted to it on the second day of its 

 journey. On these occasions it soon found its way into the water, 

 and travelled up the stream, apparently delighting in those places 



