273 MAMMALIA— PLATYPUS. 



height at the shoulder is only one inch and three quarters, and the length 

 of its tail is one'inch. This is rather less than half the size of the three 

 banded armadillo. It is a native of South America. 



THE DUCK-BILLED P L A T Y P U S .1 



New Holland is the country that produces this anomalous animal, one 

 of the strangest sports of nature, as it combines the bill of a bird with the 

 usual characteristics of a quadruped. So singular is this union, that it was 

 at first supposed to be the trick of some person, for the purpose of imposing 

 on collectors. When the creature was first discovered, it received the allu- 

 sive name of ornithorynchus paradoxicus ; but it has since been denominated 

 the platypus anatinus, or duck-billed platypus. It has a depressed body, 

 somewhat resembling that of an otter in miniature, which is covered with a 

 soft fur, dark brown above, and of a ferruginous white beneath. The head 

 is flattish, and the snout so exactly resembles that of some broad billed 

 species of duck, that it might easily be mistaken for such. The tail is flq,t, 

 furry, and of the same color as the body. The length of the whole animal, 

 from the tip of the beak to that of the tail, is thirteen inches; of the. beak, 

 an inch and a half. The legs are very short, and terminate in a broad web, 

 which on the fore feet extends to a considerable distance beyond the claws ; 

 but on the hind feet reaches no. further than the roots of the claws. On the 

 upper part of the head, on each side, a little beyond the beak, are situated 

 two oval white spots, in the lower part of each of which the eyes are em- 

 bedded. 



From the general form of this animal, and particularly its bill and webbed 

 feet, it may naturally be concluded, that it resides in watery situations ; 

 that it has the habit of digging or burrowing in the banks of rivers, or under 

 ground; and that its food consists of aquatic plants and animals 



ORDER EIGHTH. — PACHYDERM AT A. 



Animals of this order have three or two kinds of teeth ; four extremities, 

 with the toes variable in number, and furnished with strong nails or hoofs ; 

 no clavicles ; organs of digestion not disposed for ruminating. This order 

 commences the series of hoofed quadrupeds. 



1 Platypus anatinus. This genus, which comprises only two individuals yet known, 

 has four upper and four lower molars, the teeth are fibrous, and fixed only in the 

 gum ; a horny beak resembling a duck's bill ; nostrils contiguous, opening at the end 

 of the upper mandible ; cheek pouches ; feet webbed, peutadactyle ; with a spur on the 

 hiud ones in the male ; tail short, broad at the base. 



