by a pouch or bag, in which the young are carried for a considerable period after birth. This is rendered necessary by the fact that they are born in an imperfectly-formed condition, so that they are incapable of at once existing, like other mammalia, in the outer world into which they are rudely and, as it were, prematurely thrust. They are, therefore, immediately transferred into the maternal pouch, in which the teats are situated, and, fastening on to them, they remain snug and secure from danger. The new-born kangaroo is but an inch in length, blind, and with very rudimentary limbs and tail; and it is believed that this remarkable character has reference to the physical constitution of the country, where water is very scarce; so that, instead of leaving their young, as other animals would do, while they travel great distances to quench their thirst, they are thus enabled to carry with them their helpless offspring, in those long migrations which are necessitated by the scarcity of water. These singular animals are abundant in Australia and Tasmania, which thus form, as Forbes remarked, a peculiar zoological province, where we have the lowest conditions of the vertebrate type assembled, as if to indicate a rudimentary stage of the world's history.

One genus of pouched animals, the Opossum (Didelphys), is found in America, and another (Cuscus), is Malayan; but with these exceptions, they inhabit no part of the world but those just indicated.

In the Australian courts also might have been seen those remarkable animals the Duck-billed Platypus (Ornithorhynchus), and the Porcupine Ant-eater (Echidna), anomalous quadrupeds, closely allied, and constituting together the order of Monotremes. The former is aquatic, with a flattened beak, like a duck, and close-set fur, like a mole; the latter terrestrial and insectivorous, with a cylindrical tongue like the true anteater, and covered with spines like a hedgehog-both strictly limited to Australia and Tasmania. A very beautiful skeleton of the Echidna, prepared by Professor Hyrtl of Vienna, in the Austrian court, showed the curious marsupial bones, remarkably large in this species. These bones are two in number, diverging forward from the front of the pelvis, for the support of the marsupial pouch. It is not a little noticeable that they are also found in the males, which have no pouch. In some respects these two quadrupeds may be considered to connect the mammalia with the class of birds.

The productions of New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria, and Queensland, may for all purposes be considered together, having very much in common; and with them may be included Tasmania. In all are found the characteristic marsupial animals, of which the

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Kangaroo is the best example; the Great Kangaroo, however, is becoming scarce, though the Red Kangaroo, now only found in the interior of New South Wales, is much rarer. The most common Tasmanian species is Bennett's Kangaroo, of which the meat is said by Mr. Gould to be excellent, and which it is believed might easily be acclimatized in our southern counties. The Tasmanian Devil (Dasyurus) could not fail to attract notice from its repulsive bear-like form, which is matched by its destructive habits; though the first settlers in Hobarttown repaid their devastations among the poultry by eating them. The flesh is said to taste like veal. The largest carnivorous marsupial, however, is the Tasmanian Wolf (Thylacinus), of which living specimens will be found in the Zoological Gardens,-a dog-like animal, striped on the back, fierce and agile, and the terror of the herbivorous Kangaroos and Opossums, though it is said it will not touch the Wombat (Phascolomys). A very beautiful case of male, female, and young of these animals, mounted by Ward, was in the Tasmanian court, and is now deposited in the Liverpool Museum. In the pleistocene deposits, however, has been found the skull of a great carnivorous marsupial, termed Thylacoleo by Owen, equalling the lion in size and strength; and in the New South Wales court was exhibited the skull, measuring three feet in length, of a vast marsupial, allied closely to the Kangaroo, and called by Owen, Diprotodon, another relic of the pleistocene deposits of this singular island.

Some interesting birds were observable in this department. Like the quadrupeds of these regions, the birds are also very strange and peculiar; as, for example, the Apteryx, which inhabits Australia and the islands of New Zealand, and of which three species are now known. These wingless birds, belonging to the Struthious division (which includes such birds as the Ostrich and Cassowary), are almost the only representatives of a class which not long since were tolerably plentiful. As many as twenty species, from the size of a turkey to twice that of the ostrich, have left incontestable evidence of their existence in quite recent times, though now only three, or perhaps four, remain. The wings are reduced to the merest rudiments; the feathers have no accessory plume, and their shafts are prolonged beyond the back. They differ, too, from other birds in having a complete diaphragm, and no abdominal air-cells. These birds are nocturnal in their habits, of weak powers of resistance, and therefore easily fall victims to predatory animals; while their skins are also eagerly sought for by the native chiefs, who ornament their dress with the feathers. They live on worms, insects, snails, &c. In the Exhibition of 1851, it will be remembered that another wingless bird,

though of a different class,-the Dodo, but recently extinct, formed an attractive and prominent feature.

The most gigantic species, however, of these wingless birds was well represented by a beautiful model of a skeleton, in the Austrian court, among the illustrations of the late Government exploring expedition undertaken in the Novara frigate. This bird, the Palapteryx ingens of the paleontologist, was found in a cave in the Awatere valley, in the province of Nelson, south isle of New Zealand. The original skeleton is at Vienna. But that which gives these birds their greatest interest is the possibility, or even probability, that one speciesit may not be the largest-is still existent, though rare, in the middle island of New Zealand, where it is called by the natives the Moa. Fragments of the eggs of some of these great birds have also been discovered in New Zealand, bearing a great resemblance to those of the Apteryx, having a thin shell and smooth surface. The Emeu (Dromeus Nove Hollandiae) is the Australian representative of the ostrich tribe, of large size. This fleet bird, which affords excellent sport to the hunter, is also gradually disappearing before civilization, though at present rather widely diffused over South Australia and the neighbouring islands. Its eggs, which might be seen in the Western Australian department, are dark green, and six or seven in number. Some tippets and muffs also were exhibited, formed of the feathers or skin of a newly distinguished species, first recognized by Mr. Bartlett.

In the South Australian court also was exhibited the Talegalla (with a representation of its nest), another of those characteristic birds with which these regions abound. Mr. Gould, who visited Australia with the ardent enthusiasm of a true ornithologist, has given us the best account of this bird, and places it among the Rasores (or domestic fowl tribe), and considers it as the Australian representative of the Turkey, which it equals in size.

The Talegallas are gregarious and shy, rapidly running through the tangled brushwood. They utter a loud clucking noise as they stalk about the wood; and, like the ruffed

grouse of America, when perched on the branch of a tree, they will sit composedly to be shot at repeatedly till they are all brought down. The most wonderful part, however, of the history of this bird is its nest. It collects together a great heap of decaying vegetables as the place of deposit of its eggs; thus making a hotbed, arising from the decomposition of the collected matter, by the heat of which the young are hatched. Mr. Gould describes this heap as the result of several weeks' collection by the birds previously to their laying, and as varying in quantity from two or four cartloads, and of a perfectly

pyramidal form. It appears to be the united work of many pairs of birds, and the same site is used by them for several successive years. The Talegalla uses its foot for this work, and when sufficient is accumulated, the eggs are deposited about a foot apart from each other, and buried about two feet deep, perfectly upright, with the large end upwards; and there they are left, as in an artificial incubator, till they are hatched, when, it appears, that the chicks force their way out without assistance. The natives collect as many as a bushel of eggs from a single mound, and they are much sought after on account of their delicious flavour and large size (3 in. x 2 in.). These remarkable statements of Mr. Gould have all been verified by the behaviour of some of these birds kept in confinement at the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, where this strange method of incubation has been observed in every particular.

That rara avis, now so no longer, the Black Swan, was conspicuous in the West Australian court, it having been adopted as the emblem of that colony. It is characteristic of Australia, that it should have produced a bird which was once regarded as the symbol of impossibility, and put in the same category with the phoenix and the mermaid. But the pure white of the swan's down was so proverbial that our ancestors, who knew nothing of the extraordinary anomalies of undiscovered Australia, might well be excused from imagining a black swan, except as a joke, such as that which was alluded to under the terms birds' milk or asses' wool. Shaw first gave the Black Swan the name of Anas Plutonia, devoting the new wonder to the patronage of the infernal king. But really a black swan, except in colour, differs but little from our own wild swans, and the form of that characteristic part, the trachea, is intermediate between that of our wild Hooper and the tame swan.

The group of six Lyre-birds, in the Queensland court, doubtless attracted attention. They were first discovered in Captain Flinders' expedition in 1798, and since then have been bandied about among ornithologists, who were unable to agree as to their true position; they have now, however, finally settled into their place among gallinaceous birds. Their discoverer gave them a high character as song-birds, which, however, they have not succeeded in keeping. There is only one species of these splendid birds, whose superb lyre-shaped tails may well have astonished the Irishmen who formed the exploring party when they were originally found. Mr. Bennett says that these tail-feathers are sold in pairs in the shops in Sydney, though they are now becoming rare, and fetch from twenty to thirty shillings a pair. The Lyre-birds inhabit the

forests of Eucalypti (gum-trees) and Casuarinas, and are, like many other Australian animals, becoming scarce.

The Bower-birds (Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus) also keep up the character of Australia for its anomalous productions. These birds, with a plumage resembling black satin, are allied to the Crow, and are most singularly interesting on account of the bowers from which they take their name, and which they construct as follows:-With great skill and dexterity they weave a sort of arbour of twigs, fixing them below in a bed of various materials, and decorating their promenade, which is of various length, with shells, feathers, and other ornamental materials, which they collect from the country round. This bower has no connection with their nest, which is built later, but serves apparently as a playground, in which they sport, and play at hide-and-seek, bo-peep, and a variety of similar amusements, which we should hardly expect to have found their way into bird-life. Their bower constantly occupies their attention. They arrange and rearrange the materials every day, placing about it everything within their reach which may by any means serve as an ornament to it. The habits of these birds have also been observed in the Zoological Gardens.

There are many other curious birds known to Australian settlers by peculiar names; such as the "Laughing Jackass," a large kingfisher, whose note resembles a rude powerful laugh, heard more especially at certain hours of the day; and hence it is sometimes called the Settler's Clock. Here, again, we have kingfishers which do not fish, indeed seldom come near the water, but feed upon mice, lizards, &c. Australian birds do

not excel in their powers of song; and even we English do not usually impute much sweetness of voice to our crows and rooks; but there are few birds with a richer whistle than the Australian piping crow (Barita tibicen). Both these latter birds were exhibited in the Victoria court. Parrots and cockatoos, also, the flocks of which annoy the settler by their depredations in his plantation, and by their harsh discordant screams, are characteristic birds. Some of these cockatoos also are black, as the New South Wales court testified; though they do not breed in open mossy nests, as there pretended.

The Victorian exhibition included a number of fishes well preserved in spirits, showing the great resources of this colony. Among these the Murray River cod, or cod-perch (Oligorus Macquariensis) was conspicuous, and is said to attain a weight of ninety pounds. It is abundant, and the market is regularly supplied with great numbers of a large size. The Snapper of the colonist (Payrus unicolor), is equally important, though of inferior flavour. The great Maigre (Sciana aquila), is much larger than either of these, and, it is said, a finer fish for the