324 VENOMS 
much of its time in the water, and feeds upon worms and small 
fishes. 
In the males the hind feet are armed with a spur, having an 
orifice at the extremity. At the will of the animal, there is dis- 
charged from this spur a venomous liquid secreted by a gland, 
which lies along the thigh, and is in communication with the spur 
by means of'a wide subcutaneous duct (Patrick Hill). 
It has often been proved in Australia that this liquid, when 
inoculated by the puncture of the spur, may give rise to œdema 
and more or less intense general malaise. Interesting details with 
reference to the effects produced by this secretion have been 
published by C. J. Martin, in collaboration with Frank Tidswell.’ 
Fig. 125.—Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. (After Claus.) 
When a dose greater than 2 centigrammes of dry extract of the 
venom of Ornithorhynchus is injected intravenously into the rabbit, 
it produces phenomena of intoxication analogous to those observed 
after inoculation with VIPERINE venoms. Death supervenes in 
from twenty-five to thirty minutes, and at the autopsy hemorrhagic 
patches are found beneath the endocardium of the left ventricle. 
This venom has been studied afresh in my laboratory by Noc, 
«On the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, its Venomous Spur and General 
Structure,” Trans. Linn. Soc., 1822, p. 622. 
? Observations on the Femoral Gland of Ornithorhynchus and its Secretion ;” 
Proc. Linn. Soe. New South Wales, vol. ix., July, 1894. 
3 “Note sur la sécrétion venimeuse de l'Ornithorhynchus paradoxus,” Comptes 
rendus de la Société de Biologie, March 12, 1904. 
