diff --git a/src/main/com/mongodb/BasicDBList.java b/src/main/com/mongodb/BasicDBList.java
index 72a0f0e2fb..bc3e8ee7ee 100644
--- a/src/main/com/mongodb/BasicDBList.java
+++ b/src/main/com/mongodb/BasicDBList.java
@@ -43,10 +43,13 @@ public BasicDBList(){
      * @throws IndexOutOfBoundsException if <code>key</code> cannot be parsed into an <code>int</code>
      */ 
     public Object put( String key , Object v ){
-        int i = _getInt( key );
-        while ( i >= size() )
+        return put(_getInt( key ), v);
+    }
+
+    public Object put( int key, Object v ) {
+        while ( key >= size() )
             add( null );
-        set( i , v );
+        set( key , v );
         return v;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/com/mongodb/ByteEncoder.java b/src/main/com/mongodb/ByteEncoder.java
index aa67812c7c..ed8dd87d8e 100644
--- a/src/main/com/mongodb/ByteEncoder.java
+++ b/src/main/com/mongodb/ByteEncoder.java
@@ -203,14 +203,17 @@ private int putObject( String name , DBObject o ){
         final int sizePos = _buf.position();
         _buf.putInt( 0 ); // leaving space for this.  set it at the end
 
-        if ( o.containsKey( "_id" ) )
-            _putObjectField( "_id" , o.get( "_id" ) );
-            
         List transientFields = null;
-        {
-            Object temp = o.get( "_transientFields" );
-            if ( temp instanceof List )
-                transientFields = (List)temp;
+
+        if ( myType == OBJECT ) {
+            if ( o.containsKey( "_id" ) )
+                _putObjectField( "_id" , o.get( "_id" ) );
+            
+            {
+                Object temp = o.get( "_transientFields" );
+                if ( temp instanceof List )
+                    transientFields = (List)temp;
+            }
         }
         
 
@@ -334,13 +337,14 @@ private boolean _handleSpecialObjects( String name , DBObject o ){
             return true;
         }
         
-        if ( o.get( Bytes.NO_REF_HACK ) != null ){
+        if ( !(o instanceof List) && o.get( Bytes.NO_REF_HACK ) != null ){
             o.removeField( Bytes.NO_REF_HACK );
             return false;
         }
 
         if ( ! _dontRefContains( o ) && 
 	     name != null && 
+             !(o instanceof List) &&
              cameFromDB( o ) ){
             putDBRef( name , o.get( "_ns" ).toString() , (ObjectId)(o.get( "_id" ) ) );
             return true;
diff --git a/src/test/com/mongodb/DBObjectTest.java b/src/test/com/mongodb/DBObjectTest.java
index b5b5fbef05..c9f7821850 100644
--- a/src/test/com/mongodb/DBObjectTest.java
+++ b/src/test/com/mongodb/DBObjectTest.java
@@ -68,6 +68,29 @@ public void testToMap() {
         assertEquals(m.get("z"), "a");
     }
 
+    @Test(groups = {"basic"})
+    public void testBasicDBList() {
+        BasicDBList l = new BasicDBList();
+        l.put(10, "x");
+        assertEquals(l.get("10"), "x");
+        assertEquals(l.get(3), null);
+        l.put("10", "y");
+        assertEquals(l.get("10"), "y");
+
+        Mongo db;
+        try {
+            db = new Mongo( "127.0.0.1" , "test" );
+        } 
+        catch (UnknownHostException e2) {
+            return;
+        }
+        DBCollection c = db.getCollection("dblist");
+        c.drop();
+        c.insert(BasicDBObjectBuilder.start().add("array", l).get());
+        DBObject obj = c.findOne();
+        assertEquals(obj.get("array") instanceof List, true);
+    }
+
     @Test(groups = {"basic"})
     public void testPutAll() {
         DBObject start = BasicDBObjectBuilder.start().add( "a" , 1 ).add( "b" , 2 ).get();