Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2: Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers; Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The; Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners; Of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits; To the Islands in the Arafura SeaStokes, John Lort
History
Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2: Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers; Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The; Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners; Of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits; To the Islands in the Arafura Sea
Stokes, John Lort
Australia -- Description and travel; Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Natural history -- Australia
"Animals with these appearances, I concluded, had never borne young.
Examinations frequently took place immediately after they were shot. In
those that had recently discarded their young from the pouch, one nipple
and frequently two were found much lengthened, and very often one more
than the other. I have seen them in the wallaby frequently two inches in
length, and with pouches so large, that you could with ease thrust your
hand into them; the uteri with their appendages enlarged and apparently
very vascular, as well as thickened; but in no one instance at the
Abrolhos could I detect a gravid uterus; but I have seen the young
adhering to the nipples less than half an inch in length, and in a
perfectly helpless state. It is generally supposed that the uterus in the
adult animal is not supplied with much arterial blood, merely sufficient
to nourish that viscus. If such be the case, can it have the power of
retaining the germ in the womb, when on the most minute examination of
the young, I could not detect, by cicatrice or line of abrasion on any
part of the abdomen, that they ever possessed umbilical vessels, or had
been in any way nourished by a placenta? Let us take into consideration
the small size of the animal found in the pouch, its utter helplessness,
its slight power of motion, and its firm attachment to the nipple. The
more it is in the embryonic state the firmer is its attachment to the
mother; to separate it from the nipple requires some force; the
surrounding parts of the opening of the mouth, after separation, bleed
profusely, and the animal has no power to close it; the opening remains
gaping and circular, the animal lies on its side, and if very young, soon
dies. On each side of the opening is a line showing the extent of the
mouth. When arrived at greater maturity it can make no noise until the
mouth is fully developed, and then a faint hissing note; it has no power
to stand until very large, and the hair is about to shoot out from the
skin. An animal in so helpless a situation could not possibly, with all
the aids and contrivances of the mother, attach itself to the nipple and
produce adhesion of the oral aperture, when even at a later period it has
no motion of life or power to close that opening. The retention in the
uterus must be of short duration. I have been led to these conclusions
from examinations on the banks of the Victoria River. A flying doe,
inhabiting the grass flats, of more than ordinary size, was killed. In
thrusting my fingers into the pouch, I found that the mammary glands were
remarkably enlarged, pressing forcibly into that cavity. I questioned the
seaman who took up the animal, immediately after being shot, whether he
had taken the young out, and received a negative answer. Finding the
mammary glands so extremely enlarged, I was induced (although pressed for
time) to examine the uterus, and posterior and internal parts of those
glands--the cornua as well as the other parts of the uterus were much
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