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XXVI. Notes on the Natural History and Habits of the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus,
Fix this textBlum. By GEORGE BENNETT, Esq., F.L.S., Corr. Memb. Z.S.
Fix this textCommunicated May 27, 1834.
Fix this textIn the commencement of the year 1829, when I first arrived in the Colony of New
Fix this textSouth Wales, my attention was directed towards two points of Natural Science which
Fix this textwere at that time desiderata—one the mode of generation of the Kangaroo, to explain
Fix this textin what manner the young are brought into connexion with the nipple—and the other
Fix this textthe mode of generation and habits of the animal which forms the subject of the present
Fix this textcommunication.
Fix this textTo all the inquiries I made of persons long resident in the Colony, I could only pro-
Fix this textcure very unsatisfactory replies. I found then, as I also found on my subsequent and
Fix this textsecond visit to the Colony, that the majority preferred forming theories of their own
Fix this textand arguing on their plausibility, to devoting a few leisure days to the collection of facts
Fix this textby which the questions might be set at rest for ever. At this time a voyage of great
Fix this textinterest to me, among the Islands of the Polynesian Archipelago and to New Zealand,
Fix this textprevented my devoting the time which I had at first intended to employ in attempting
Fix this textthe discovery and elucidation of those doubtful points; and I left New South Wales in
Fix this textMarch 1829, expecting that before my return to England some intelligent person resi-
Fix this textdent in the Colony would devote himself to the task and determine them by actual
Fix this textobservation. On my return to England, however, in April 1831, I found that all the
Fix this textquestions relative to those animals still remained in the same undecided state, excepting
Fix this textthat my friend Mr. Owen had succeeded in injecting with mercury the ducts of the
Fix this textsupposed mammary glands of the Omithorhynchus; a communication on which subject,
Fix this textas I have seen since leaving England in 1832, he has laid before the Royal Society.
Fix this textI again left England for the Colony of New South Wales in May 1832, and soon
Fix this textafter my arrival there in August I visited the interior of the country, and devoted much
Fix this texttime to the investigation of the habits and oeconomy of these animals in their native
Fix this texthaunts.
Fix this textThe Omithorhynchus is known to the colonists by the name of Water-Mole, from
Fix this textsome resemblance which it is supposed to bear to the common European Mole, Talpa
Fix this textEuropeea, Linn.: by the native tribes at Bathurst and Goulburn Plains, and in the
Fix this textYas, Murrumbidgee, and Tumat countries, I universally found it designated by the
Fix this textname of Mallangong or Tambreet; but the latter is more in use among them than the
Fix this textformer.
Fix this textThe body of this singular animal is depressed in form, and in some degree partakes
Fix this text2 h 2
Fix this text229
Fix this textIt's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail!
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Bennett, George. (1835). Notes on the natural history and habits of the ornithorhynchus paradoxus, Blum Retrieved May 2, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-47884219
Bennett, George. Notes on the natural history and habits of the ornithorhynchus paradoxus, Blum [London: The Zoological Society], 1835. Web. 2 May 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-47884219>
Bennett, George. 1835, Notes on the natural history and habits of the ornithorhynchus paradoxus, Blum The Zoological Society], [London viewed 2 May 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-47884219
{{Citation
| author1=Bennett, George.
| title=Notes on the natural history and habits of the ornithorhynchus paradoxus, Blum
| year=1835
| section=p. 229-258, [1] leaf of plates : ill. ; 31cm.
| location=[London
| publisher=The Zoological Society]
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-47884219
| id=nla.obj-47884219
| access-date=2 May 2025
| via=Trove
}}
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