368 TUB ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



MARSUPIALIA. 



How does the new-born Kangaroo get into the Mother's Pouch ?— 

 From an exceedingly interesting book recently published, 'Wild Animals 

 in Captivity,' by A. D. Bartlett, the late superintendent at the London 

 Zoological Gardens, I extract the following: — "The excitement and 

 curiosity evinced by most persons when they witness the young Kangaroo 

 protruding from the mother's pouch naturally leads to the question, ' How 

 it got there?' a question not yet satisfactorily answered. Long have we 

 been trying to unravel the mystery, and some of the ablest naturalists have 

 bestowed considerable attention upon it, and spent much valuable time 

 with a view to solve it." In the Rev. R. Owen's ' Life of Professor Owen,' 

 however, I find a curiously contradictory statement. It is that of a note in 

 Mrs. Owen's diary at so early a date as Nov. 14th, 1844, which appears to 

 definitely settle the above question. She says : — " Also interesting letter 

 from Lord Derby. A Kangaroo at Knowsley has been watched till the 

 matter so long in doubt is cleared up. She has been seen taking the new- 

 born tiny Kangaroo in her fore-paws and putting it in the pouch." It 

 seems almost inconceivable that Bartlett, so intimate as he was with Prof. 

 Owen, should have remained unaware of this fact. — W. Barrett Roue 

 (Clifton, Bristol). 



In reference to the above communication of Dr. Roue, the interesting 

 question of " How does the new-born Kangaroo get into the mother's 

 pouch?" mentioned in ' Wild Animals in Captivity,' remains unsolved, I 

 believe, just as my father stated. I remember many long conversations on 

 that point with my father, who had the greatest opportunity of knowing all 

 about the breeding of these animals, and we came to the conclusion that 

 the worm-like young passed through a duct or canal in the mammary 

 glands from the womb to the pouch, which would only be perceptible at the 

 time of birth. Had Prof. Owen believed that the mother would pick up a 

 miserable naked worm-like creature with her paws and place it in the pouch, 

 I fancy that he would have made that statement long ago. Waterhouse, in 

 his ' Mammalia,' vol. i. Pouched Animals, published in 1846, does not even 

 mention how the young gets into the pouch ; he had access to Prof. Owen 



