‘ 
232 MR. G. BENNETT ON THE HISTORY AND HABITS OF 
will: in dead specimens, being closed, it would not be readily perceived by a person 
unacquainted with its exact situation. From this orifice a semicircular cartilaginous 
canal is continued, terminating at the base of the skull. 
The Ornithorhynchus has a peculiar fishy smell, more especially when wet, which 
probably proceeds from an oily secretion. The aborigines use these animals as food : 
but it is no particular recommendation of them to say that they are eaten by the Native 
Australian, as nothing in the shape of provender comes amiss to him, whether it 
be snakes, rats, frogs, grubs, or the more delicate Opossum, Bandicoot and Flying 
Squirrel. 
There are two species usually described in our works on Natural History, the Orni- 
thorhynchus rufus and the Orn. fuscus; but the differences between them appear to me 
to be so unimportant that I hesitate in considering them as otherwise than specifically 
identical. Not having referred the Water-Moles which fell under my observation to 
either of these presumed species, I retain for them the name originally proposed by 
Professor Blumenbach, that of Orn. paradovus: though subsequent in date to the de- 
nomination assigned by Shaw to the same animal, it has been so extensively adopted as 
to render it inexpedient in this instance to adhere to the strict rule of nomenclature. 
The size of the Ornithorhynchus varies, but the males are usually found to be in a 
small degree larger than the females: the average length I consider to be from 1 foot 
6 inches to 1 foot 8 inches. From the following dimensions of specimens shot in the 
Yas and Murrumbidgee rivers! an idea may be formed of the relative proportions of 
the different parts to the body: the measurements were taken immediately after the 
animals had been shot and removed from the water, the specimens, still in their flaccid 
state, being placed in their natural position. On the dimensions thus taken more de- 
pendence can be placed for accuracy than on those derived from stuffed specimens, 
which, from the contracted state of most of the parts, and the artificial elongation given 
to the body, cannot be relied on. As the integuments, moreover, hang very loose 
about the animal, they are usually distended by the stuffer to a much greater degree 
than is natural. 
Male specimen shot in the Yas River. 
Ft. 
Length from the extremity of the mandible to the extremity of the tail 1 
Length of the upper mandible . 
Breadth of the upper mandible 
Length of the lower mandible . 
Breadth of the lower mandible 
Length of the fore leg 
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' Mr. George MacLeay informs me that the specimens procured from the Nepean River are seldom longer 
than 1 foot 2 inches. 
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