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MR.  G.  BENNETT  ON  THE  HISTORY  AND  HABITS  OF 
account  of  the  very  flaccid  integuments  with  which  the  animal  is  covered.  The  smaller 
glands  were  usually  of  a  long  narrow  form,  running  in  a  longitudinal  direction  towards 
one  centre,  and  ending  internally  in  the  lacteal  ducts,  (beautifully  displayed  by  this 
specimen  in  its  recent  state,)  which  converged  and  terminated  on  the  surface  of  a  very 
small  portion  of  the  integuments.  One  of  the  glands  measured  3-i-  inches  in  length, 
and,  when  expanded,  5-|-  inches  in  breadth  ;  but  when  seen  lying  undissected  upon  the 
abdomen,  with  the  lobes  united  together  closely  by  the  cellular  membrane,  the  breadth 
was  from  2|-  to  3  inches,  and  the  length  the  same  as  that  given  above. 
How  different  was  the  appearance  in  the  recent  state  of  this  mammary  gland  from 
that  which  I  had  previously  seen  at  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in  London,  in  a  spe- 
cimen long  preserved  in  spirits,  in  which  I  had  had  the  opportunity  of  witnessing  the 
injection  of  the  ducts  with  mercury  by  my  friend  Mr.  Owen,  the  mercury  exuding,  as  I 
have  since  seen  the  milk  from  the  similar  ducts,  upon  the  integuments.  In  the  recent 
specimen,  the  pale  whitish  glands  clustered  together,  seen  through  the  fine  delicate  cel- 
lular membrane  which  attaches  them  to  the  muscles  and  integuments,  and  the  rami- 
fication of  the  blood-vessels  and  of  the  delicate  ducts,  form  a  picture  of  natural  beauty 
most  gratifying  to  the  eye  of  an  admirer  of  the  works  of  nature,  and  far  surpassing  any 
of  the  productions  of  art. 
I  sought  for  the  burrow  of  this  animal  about  the  banks  of  the  pond  in  which  it  had 
been  shot, — the  same  pond  on  the  bank  of  which  the  burrow  was  discovered  in  which 
I  caught  the  first  living  specimen, — but  was  unsuccessful. 
In  the  same  pond  at  Mundoona,  from  which  many  female  specimens  had  been  pro- 
cured, two  more  females  were  shot ;  but  both  proved  unimpregnated,  with  the  uteri 
merely  long  thread-like  tubes,  destitute  of  ova,  and  with  the  abdominal  glands  hardly 
to  be  perceived  on  the  most  minute  dissection  of  the  parts. 
On  the  8th  of  December  I  again  left  Yas  for  the  Murrumbidgee  and  Tumat  coun- 
tries :  and  near  Jugiong  an  opportunity  was  afforded  me  of  seeing  a  burrow  on  the 
banks  of  the  Murrumbidgee  River,  containing  some  very  young  Ornithorhynchi,  which 
appeared  to  have  not  long  previously  been  brought  forth,  being  only  thinly  covered 
with  hair ;  a  circumstance  which  corroborated  the  accounts  of  the  natives  in  the  Mur- 
rumbidgee and  Tumat  countries,  who  invariably  told  me,  "  Pickaninny  tumble  down 
now  from  old  woman;  very  small  now."  In  this  burrow  were  three  young  ones,  in 
length  about  1-f  inch :  there  was  not  the  slightest  appearance  of  anything  like  shells 
about  the  burrow,  or  that  would  lead  to  the  supposition  of  the  eggs  being  excluded 
previously  to  the  appearance  of  the  young  ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  consider  all  the  facts 
that  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain  as  militating  against  an  assertion  or  theory  of  that 
kind.  From  the  burrow  above  mentioned  the  "  old  woman"  had  made  her  escape ;  at 
all  events  she  was  not  to  be  found.  I  regret  that  from  a  want  of  spirits  of  wine,  in 
which  these  animals  could  be  preserved,  (for  they  died  before  I  had  proceeded  far  on 
my  journey,)  they  were  spoiled. 
