LECTURE VII. 297 



that its form, at its birth, is suited to its 

 present exigencies, and not to its future 

 modes of life. By degrees, the young 

 Kangaroo fills and distends the abdominal 

 pouch, and peeps abroad through its aper- 

 ture, which gives the first intimation to 

 others, that its parent has become, a mo- 

 ther. 



The common mode of the multiplication 

 of the species, in the higher order of ani- 

 mals, consists in the exceedingly minute 

 ovum, containing no nutriment for the 

 growth of the embryon, but merely its 

 germ. Yet this possesses powers of extract- 

 ing nourishment from the vessels of its 

 mother ; and when the young has attained 

 a certain degree of perfection, it is expelled 

 from her body, and is, or will become, a 

 miniature resemblance of its progenitors. 

 Animals that bring forth their young in 

 this manner are called viviparous. 



There are organs allotted for the form- 

 ation of the ovum called female, but it 

 never increases beyond a certain point. 



