THE 
QUEENSLAND NATURALIST 
JOURNAL OF THE QUEENSLAND NATURALISTS’ CLUB 
AND NATURE. LOVERS’ LEAGUE 
VOL VIII. OCTOBER, 1931 No. I 
PROCEEDINGS. 
EVENING MEETINGS, Monday, 20th July, 1931.-^1 
The President (Mrs. Estelle Thomson) occupied the chair.) 
and about 40 members were present. Miss II. E. Clarke! 
gnd Mr. F. C. Bennett were elected members of the Club*) 
Mr. G. II. Barker said that by direction of the Council Mm ; 
J, E. Young and himself had written to the Government 
protesting against the open season for opossums and re- 
questing that the rules regarding the use of spotlights, etc., 
should be strictly enforced. He also stated he had written 
the City Council in reference to a letter in the Press that 
had requested the removal of some birds from the protected 
list. 
Mrs. Giles exhibited a spray of the flowering shrub, 
Holmskioldia, and Mr. J. E. Young exhibited flowering 
sprays and fruits of the Protcaceous Nut (Hicksbeachia ) . 
Mr. Heber A. Longman (Director of the Queensland 
Museum) gave an address illustrated by specimens and 
lantern slides on 
MARSUPIAL REPRODUCTION. 
In the course of the lecture, Mr. Longman gave a 
summary of some of the extraordinary facts now definitely 
known regarding the birth and development of marsupials. 
He claimed that to students of anatomy and physiology the 
study of the life history of marsupials -was as interesting 
as a thrilling novel. Unlike the higher mammals, the 
marsupials had a double uterus, and after a relatively brief 
period of gestation (-which in the common “marsupial 
cat” w r as about eight days) the young were born in a very 
immature condition. Strangely enough the embryo passed 
usually, if not invariably, to the external opening by a 
special passage between the right and left lower portions 
of the uterus. In immature marsupials this passage -was 
inconspicuous and incomplete. In bandicoots this channel 
was only open at the Jime of giving birth, but in mature 
kangaroos it remained permanently open. 
Although relatively tiny compared with higher 
mammals, the marsupial embryos had w ell-developed fore- 
limbs with claws, as might be seen by anyone who exam- 
