AND MAMMAET FCETUS OF THE ECHIDNA HYSTRIX. 
673 
bladder being found but the point into which this conical protuberance fits, the ingress 
and egress of the urine, as far as we believe, takes place at the same aperture. In close 
proximity, and lateral to it, the oviducts terminate by slit-like openings. The mucous 
membrane of the thick walls of the oviducts are, at least in the lower portion, longitudi- 
nally folded. The oviducts are suddenly narrowed for about from the lower orifice, 
offering some resistance to the passage of an ordinary sized probe. 
“The upper portion of the oviduct seems of a structure capable of considerable ex- 
pansion during gestation. The upper portion was dilated and thin, and a probe could be 
passed to near one of the ova. The lower portion of the rectum is so large and so capable 
of distension as to admit of the periodical inclusion of the young animal, in case its great 
size should possibly be provided for that purpose, as it is a receptacle large enough for a 
young animal twice the size of that found now with the mother. The foetal young may 
possibly have been extruded prematurely after the capture of the animal. We found 
no cicatrix of an umbilical cord on the abdomen of the young animal. ^ 
“A rough sketch of the young as seen by us is appended (fig. 1). It was 
of a pale colour* ; no apertures for the eyes were yet visible in the skin, nor 
were any tegumentary appendages formed. The finder contends that he saw 
the young external to the mother and alive. We purposely abstained from 
the internal examination of the young one, so as not to mutilate the only 
specimen available. The four mammary glands at this time are apparently 
quite rudimentary ; they are destitute of nipples, as are those of the Orni- 
thorhynchus. N or was there the least appearance of milk in these glands. 
From the imperfect means of judging we had, we incline to the opinion that Young Echidna, 
the Echidna cannot be oviparous. 
(Signed) “ James T. Rudall. 
“ Feed. Mueller.” 
“ Melbourne, August 25, 1864.” 
On receiving the specimens I proceeded to examine the female Echidna, and was gra- 
tified by finding unmistakeable evidences of marsupial structure. On each side of the 
abdominal integument, about two inches in advance of the cloaca, and about three inches 
and a half from the base of the tail, there was a semilunar pouch, with an aperture lon- 
gitudinal and directed towards the median line, half an inch in depth and two-thirds of 
an inch in length of aperture, forming a symmetrical pair with their orifices opposite 
each other (Plate XXXIX. a, b). 
These pouches were not at first apparent, being concealed by the hair which covers 
the under part of the body. It was in turning over this hair in quest of any rudiment of 
nipple, that I came, to my surprise, upon one of the pouches. The first doubt was 
whether it might have been produced by an accidental pressure of the end of a thumb 
or finger in the previous dissection of the animal, which depression had afterwards got 
hardened in the spirit ; and to solve that doubt I proceeded to examine the opposite half 
* “ Said originally to be bright red. — F. M.” 
5 A 2 
