“ I heard lately of an instance of the same appearances 
having been observed by a kangaroo hunter, and was pleased to 
find the confirmation of his story by my own experience. 
“ His opinion was that the embryo had been extruded by 
the dam in its dying agonies, and described almost exactly what 
I afterwards saw — viz., that the embryo was working its way 
through the fur straight towards the orifice of the pouch. 
“ The dam that I shot had been dead, perhaps, five minutes 
before I noticed what was going on, but I don’t think sufficient 
time had elapsed for the young one to have made its way so far. 
It was then within about five inches of the orifice of the pouch, 
or where that should have been, as on examination this appeared 
to be closed, being surrounded by folds of shrunken skin (not 
open, as in Professor Owen’s case). 
“ The embryo looked like — and, in fact, at first I took it to 
be — a piece of raw flesh, which I supposed had been driven out 
by the bullet ; but closer inspection showed it to be working 
actively with its fore legs — arms, in fact — which were consider- 
ably developed, with the claws apparent. It was about one and 
one-third inches in length, the tail and hind legs undeveloped, 
and giving the hinder parts of the animal the appearance of a 
red ‘ grub.’ After watching it a few minutes, and not having 
much time to remain, I took it from the fur, to which it seemed 
to adhere pretty firmly, and placed it on the closed orifice of the 
pouch. It soon left this, however, and commenced travelling 
through the fur, which was pretty long, with considerable energy : 
as, however, it began to describe circles, and appeared, as I may 
say, rather to have lost its way, after a few minutes more I 
placed it again on the supposed orifice of the pouch, taking care 
that the head sunk among the folds of the skin I have men- 
tioned. It then seemed to endeavour to burrow in. At this 
stage I had to leave it, as the day was advancing, and I had an 
engagement elsewhere. Had I had the means of preserving it I 
would have removed the skin of the abdomen, including pouch 
and the embryo, and brought it away ; but it appeared to me 
that, as after death no assistance could come from the dam, no 
further reliable observations could be made. My theory is that 
in life the irritation produced by the burrowing of the young one 
causes the pouch to open for its reception ; and this is just what 
can only be observed in the captivity of the animal. AYhat 
struck me was the marvellous energy and apparent endurance of 
the embryo in its course, and the small chance there seemed to 
be of its falling from the fur, which, while producing adherence, 
did not seem to impede its progress materially. 
‘ fc I can quite believe that it may work in this way for hours 
before effecting an entrance.” 
Now we have sportsmen who kill scores of marsupials daily, 
the above communication may lead to further observations on 
this interesting point. 
