OF MONOTREMATA AND MARSUPTALIA. 
465 
September I had intended to go further south, so as to continue collecting 
Ornithorhynchus, but almost immediately after making this decision I found the long 
looked-for eggs of Ceratoclus. This discovery changed my plan of following 
Ornithorhynchus into colder districts. The exceptional drought of 1884, by reducing 
the area available for spawning, made the season a particularly favourable one for 
my work. The next three months were spent in hatching and rearing stages of 
Ceratodus. 
During this time the number of my black retainers had increased to upwards of 
fifty. The women were employed in searching the river weed for Ceratodus, while the 
men collected Echidna. It was only occasionally, and then with great difficulty, that 
I persuaded them to dig for Ornithorhynchus. Not only the blacks, but their dogs, 
refused to eat the animal; Echidna, on the other hand, was their favourite food, and 
their skill in finding them was very remarkable. 
The result of this expedition, which had lasted from April to December, was that 
I had obtained many of the Monotreme stages, and a very complete series of 
Ceratodus; but I recognised that my camp had not been organised on a sufficiently 
large scale. In order to obtain a complete series of Monotremes, another season was 
necessary, and a very much larger camp. 
My work on the Burnett Biver was greatly assisted by the hospitality of the 
squatters. I am-particularly indebted to W. F. McCord, Esq., and George Munro, 
Esq., who at all times rendered invaluable assistance, both by lending me horses and 
men, and allowing me temporary supplies from the station stores. 
In December I returned to Sydney, with six clear months free for collecting 
Marsupial embryos, before the Monotremes would begin to breed again. The extreme 
delicacy of the early stages of Marsupials made it impossible to preserve them 
perfectly while travelling. The only satisfactory method was to be present at a large 
Kangaroo drive, where great numbers are driven into a small yard. The Marsupial 
Acts and the dry seasons had so thinned their numbers that few stations found it 
profitable any longer to drive the animals ; the system of paying so much a head to 
independent hunters had replaced the yards. Fortunately, through the kindness of 
some squatters in the Gwydir district, a drive was arranged, and I had the good 
fortune to get over 80 uterine stages of Macropus major, besides several of other 
species. 
From January 1 to the middle of March I travelled in a light buggy, collecting 
Marsupials. At the end of this time an accident deprived me of the results of this 
expedition. Crossing the MacIntyre Biver in a flood, the buggy was upset, and its 
contents washed away. The two following months were lost through the effects of a 
fever which I had contracted in the swamps of the Burnett Biver, and it was not 
until June that I started to organise the large camp of blacks, to continue the delayed 
attack on the Monotremes. With the help of my friend, Beginald Bloxsome, Esq., 
over 150 natives were employed during July and August, and they caught between 
3 o 
MDCCCLXXX VII. — B. 
