NOTES AND QUERIES.
MAMMALIA.
MARSUPIALIA.
How does the new-born Kangaroo get into the Mother's Pouch?—From an exceedingly interesting book recently published, 'Wild Animals in Captivity,' by A.D. Bartlett, the late superintendent at the London Zoological Gardens, I extract the following:—"The excitement and curiosity evinced by most persons when they witness the young Kangaroo protruding from the mother's pouch naturally leads to the question, 'How it got there?' a question not yet satisfactorily answered. Long have we been trying to unravel the mystery, and some of the ablest naturalists have bestowed considerable attention upon it, and spent much valuable time with a view to solve it." In the Rev. R. Owen's 'Life of Professor Owen,' however, I find a curiously contradictory statement. It is that of a note in Mrs. Owen's diary at so early a date as Nov. 14th, 1844, which appears to definitely settle the above question. She says:—"Also interesting letter from Lord Derby. A Kangaroo at Knowsley has been watched till the matter so long in doubt is cleared up. She has been seen taking the newborn tiny Kangaroo in her fore-paws and putting it in the pouch." It seems almost inconceivable that Bartlett, so intimate as he was with Prof. Owen, should have remained unaware of this fact.—W. Barrett Roué (Clifton, Bristol).
In reference to the above communication of Dr. Roué, the interesting question of "How does the new-born Kangaroo get into the mother's pouch?" mentioned in 'Wild Animals in Captivity,' remains unsolved, I believe, just as my father stated. I remember many long conversations on that point with my father, who had the greatest opportunity of knowing all about the breeding of these animals, and we came to the conclusion that the worm-like young passed through a duct or canal in the mammary glands from the womb to the pouch, which would only be perceptible at the time of birth. Had Prof. Owen believed that the mother would pick up a miserable naked worm-like creature with her paws and place it in the pouch, I fancy that he would have made that statement long ago. Waterhouse, in his 'Mammalia,' vol. i. Pouched Animals, published in 1846, does not even mention how the young gets into the pouch; he had access to Prof. Owen
