Miscellanea. 183 



Upon the whole then, M. Vevraux's evidence goes to confirm the 

 ovo-vivipavous theory of the Ornithorhynchus, determines the season 

 and mode of coitus, agrees with the calculations previously made as 

 to the period of gestation, establishes the function of the mammary 

 glands, and describes two modes by which the young acquire the 

 lacteal secretion : it also demonstrates one use of the perforated 

 spurs of the male, though that of the secretion which they emit is 

 still conjectural. The chief points then that remain to be determined 

 by actual observation are — 



1st. The precise period of utero-gestation. 



2nd. The nature of the membranes or other structures developed 

 for the support of the foetus during gestation, and the order of their 

 appearance. 



3rd. The exact size, condition, and powers of the young at the 

 lime of birth. 



4lh. The period during which the young takes the lacteal nourish- 

 ment. 



5th. The age at which the animal attains its full size. 



The most important desideratum for the physiologist is the im- 

 pregnated uterus of the Oniithorhynchus at difi'erent periods. Such 

 specimens are indispensable for the determination of the second 

 point. It would seem that they might be obtained without any very 

 great difficulty at New Norfolk river: it would require only to take 

 or kill a female Ornithorhynchus at the latter part of September, and 

 repeat the capture of other females during each week of the months 

 of October and November, or in December if the specimen taken at 

 the end of November was still pregnant. The hinder half of each 

 of such specimens, with the female organs, or simply the impreg- 

 nated uterus, should be preserved in strong colourless spirits; and if 

 this should meet the eye of my esteemed correspondent Mr. Bonald 

 Gunn, or of Dr. Casey, I would earnestly solicit their kind co-opera- 

 tion in transmitting such specimens to me at the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, London. 



On a New Species of Aptertx. By John Gould, Esq., 



F.R.S. ETC. 



IPro. Zool. Soc. Lond., June 8, 1847.] 



We have abundant evidence that at some former period New Zea- 

 land, and probably the Polynesian Islands, have been inhabited by a 

 remarkable group of Birds, of which the Dinornis, so ably described 

 by Professor Owen, formed a part, and of which the genus Apteryx 

 is the only form at present known to exist: this form, so different 

 from all others, has been, and will ever be, regarded with great 

 interest, as the sole remnant of a race of which every other genus is 

 believed to be extinct. Hitherto a single species only of this genus 

 has been recorded : I have therefore no ordinary degree of pleasure 

 in introducing to the notice of this Meeting a second, and if possible 

 a still more extraordinary one than that previously described ; and as I 



