MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 345 
covered by a lucky chance. He happened to kill one which had 
laid one egg, and had the other on its way out through the 
passage, and the age of this egg enabled him to determine when 
the eggs of the platypus were laid. His series of monotremata 
would be made up in the earlystages by the echidna and in the later 
by the ornithorhynchus. These were the facts determined by his 
researches, and as to their interpretation it would take years before 
they were of service in connection with the problemsof embryology, 
and the special problems to be worked out in connection with these 
animals were very numerous, They might perhaps ask what all 
these investigations were for. In the early days of evolution it 
was hoped to get some approximation to the pedigree of all ani- 
mals by observing the embryology ; but now embryologists were 
not so ambitious. They knew that all animals had a pedigree, 
but what it exactly was, was not now regarded as of such con- 
sequence. So long as they could tell more or less accurately 
what it was, was sufficient. These researches were all working 
to find out the laws which governed living things, and thus light 
would be thrown upon the great problem of life. 
Mr. Caldwell, in answer to a question as to whether he had 
come to any conclusion with regard to what became of the em- 
bryo of the marsupial, and how it becomes attached to its 
mother’s teat, said that the exact mode in which the kangaroo 
or other marsupial put the young to the teat was of not so much 
importance as other facts. It had been observed by Professor 
Osborne, of America, who had seen the act, that the mother 
lifted it from the ulva to the teat. Marsupials possessed a very 
large and sensitive tongue, and lips which would enable them to 
lift the embryo and place it on the teat. The young were not 
attached to the teat at all. Hitting a kangaroo on the head 
would be sufficient to knock the young off the teat. It wasa 
few weeks after the first attachment that the lips grew over the 
extremity of the teat, but no connection actually took place be- 
tween it and the mouth. By careful manipulation one could 
always extricate the lips of a young kangaroo from the teat. 
How the embryo was actually moved into the pouch he had not 
observed. He had not considered it of sufficient importance to 
waste any time about. He could conceive no difficulty in the 
lips or tongue of the kangaroo placing the structure, which was 
at least any inch long when born, upon the teat. It did not ap- 
pear to him to be a matter of much importance. It did not 
form part of his researches, it belonged more to the habits and 
nature of the animal. 
BeeLLOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE) OF- CANTERBURY. 
SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING. 
Christchurch, October 2nd, 1884.—Professor F. W. Hutton in 
the chair. 
Dr. von Haast proposed— That Law XV. be altered by 
substituting the word ‘May’ for ‘March.’” Mr. H. R. Webb 
