6o 



TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



uncovered, marsupial bones would be found present 

 within it. Accordingly, in the presence of friends and 

 admirers, he proceeded to remove the enveloping deposit 

 with the greatest care, and so laid bare before the 

 astonished eyes of his visitors, the very proof of the 

 correctness of his prediction. 



Quite recently there has been discovered in Australia a 

 small mole-like beast which has been named Notoryctes. 

 Some naturalists have considered it an Insectivore, but it 

 is really a Marsupial, and a most interesting one, to 

 which we shall again refer later on. Its marsupial 

 bones are quite rudimentary. 



FIG. 16. 



THE MARSUPIAL MOLE. 



The last Australian animal we think it needful here 

 to note is one which some of our readers may wonder 

 we did not mention earlier. We refer to the Orni- 

 thorhynchus or duck-billed platypus, which gave rise, 

 naturally enough, to so much astonishment when it was 

 discovered at the close of the last century. Its bird-like 

 mouth perhaps suggested the notion that it laid eggs, as 

 a duck's bill is an awkward apparatus to suck milk with. 

 It was found, however, that in the very young the bill is 

 quite soft, and that it does at first feed on milk, like 



