In What Space
Of Time It Reaches Such A Growth As To Be Abandoned Entirely By The Mother,
We Are Ignorant.
It is born blind, totally bald, the orifice of the ear
closed and only just the centre of the mouth open, but a black score,
denoting what is hereafter to form the dimension of the mouth,
is marked very distinctly on each side of the opening.
At its birth,
the kangaroo (notwithstanding it weighs when full grown 200 pounds)
is not so large as a half-grown mouse. I brought some with me to England
even less, which I took from the pouches of the old ones.
This phenomenon is so striking and so contrary to the general laws of nature,
that an opinion has been started that the animal is brought forth
not by the pudenda, but descends from the belly into the pouch
by one of the teats, which are there deposited. On this difficulty
as I can throw no light, I shall hazard no conjecture. It may, however,
be necessary to observe that the teats are several inches long
and capable of great dilatation. And here I beg leave to correct an error
which crept into my former publication wherein I asserted that,
"the teats of the kangaroo never exceed two in number." They sometimes,
though rarely, amount to four. There is great reason to believe
that they are slow of growth and live many years. This animal has a clavicle,
or collar-bone, similar to that of the human body.
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