(ITS PKOFKSSOK OWEN ON THE .MARSUPIAL POUCH KS, MAMMARY GLANDS, 
Tt appears that Mr. Harris, being in Colac Forest, Victoria, on the 12th of August, 
1 SC. I. his attention M as attracted by his dogs to a fallen tree, in the hollow of which the 
Echidna had taken refuge. "On examining her 1 found the young one attached to one 
teat, presenting the appearance of a miniature Porcupine*, with an absence of quills, 
partially transparent, of a bright red colour/' The mother was placed in a porter-cask 
with earth containing ants. 
M On Wednesday the 17th of August it still remained attached to the tout, presenting 
the same appearance as when first captured, evidently in a living state. I avoided 
handling it more than necessary, as it evinced signs of terror by a protrusion of the 
vagina and frequently emitting urine. 
On Thursday, L8th of August, 1. emptied the earth out of the cask, to replace it with 
fresh earth containing ants, and to my surprise found the voung one removed from the 
teat. 1 1 panned Off' the earth, as for gold, and found the young considerably shrunk. " 
Mr. Hakims thereupon placed it in a bottle of spirits, and transmitted it, with the 
mother alive, to Dr. Mueller, Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Mr. Harris concludes his 
letter by stating, " My dates are correct, as I keep a diary, and you may rely Upon what 
I have stated being authentic." 
The condition in which the young TSchidna has reached me accords with the above 
account. It. is naked, devoid of prickles, the integument thin, but with its transparency 
affected by the action of the alcohol, and somewhat wrinkled from contractions of the 
tissues through the same action The new-born Kangaroo, of similar size and con- 
dition, described in the Philosophical Transactions for 1834, ]). 344, Plate VII. fig. 5, 
was also red, like an earthworm, "resembling it not only in colour, but in the semi- 
transparency of the integument/' Mr. Harris's observation of the young TLchidna 
closely accords in tins character With my own on tin; new-born living Kangaroo. 
M r. HARRIS observed the yonng Echidna attached to the mother, and he concluded 
from analogy that the mode of attachment was as in the other land-quadrupeds of the 
colony and in mammalia generally; whereas it was kept in situ by the duplicative of 
the skin, and by clinging with the precociously-developed claws of the fore feet to the 
interior of the pouch. There was most assuredly no nipple: in that particular my own 
Scrutiny accords with the results of the examination of the recent animal by Drs. 
MUELLER and Kudall. What appearances suggested to them the idea of four quite 
rudimentary mammary glands 1 have been unable to discover; the pair of large mam- 
illary glands, together with the pouches into which they pour their secretion, had 
escaped their observation. 
The young /sV/m/^<y (Plate XL1. tigs. ?> & -1), of which the admeasurements have been 
given, resembles the young Ornithorhynchus (flx fig. 5) in the general shape and 
curvature of the body; it also resembles the new-born Kangaroo above cited in the 
proportions of the limbs to the body, in the inferior si/e of the hinder pair, in the 
degree of development of the digits, and in the feeble indication of eyes or eyelids. 
* Tin 1 natno by w hich the Echidna is commonly known to the settlors and gold-sook&n oftfaa colony. 
