218 



THE MOXOTREMES. 



of spines. On the under parts they are finer 

 and somewhat silky, and the down hair in 

 those parts is rather lighter in colour. The 

 mixture of these two hues produces a varied 

 play of colour. The legs are so short that 

 the animal in walking or running actually 

 drags its body along the ground. They 

 have five toes with strong burrowing claws. 

 A broad web unites the toes of the fore-feet, 

 and projects so far beyond them that the nails 

 appear to rest on the web itself, the free edge 

 of which folds back when the animal burrows 

 in the ground. The spur on the hind-feet of 

 the males is large and curved backwards. 



On the body thus adapted for an aquatic 

 mammal there is set a head which might 

 rather be compared with that of a duck than 

 that of a mammal if it had not hair, or rather 

 a soft down on its hinder part. Here are 

 seated the very tiny eyes, on the upper sur- 

 face of the skull but directed forwards, while 

 a little further back may be observed the 

 openings of the ears, which, as already men- 

 tioned, the creature has the power of closing 

 at pleasure. Half the length of the head is 

 occupied by the flat, horny, broad-ended beak, 

 the form of which reminds us of that of certain 

 ducks. It is separated from the hairy part 

 of the head by a horny protuberance, capable 

 of being laid back and expanded. The nos- 

 trils are placed at the end of the beak, which 

 is surrounded by a horny but very sensitive 

 lip. The lower jaw is much narrower than 

 the upper, but has a form adapting it to fit 

 into the latter. Far back in the mouth may 

 be seen the thick horny and warty tongue; 

 two of the warts resemble sharp-pointed teeth. 

 In each half of the lower jaw, and on each 

 side of the base of the skull, in a position 

 corresponding to the more retired position of 

 the lower jaw, there is a depression with a 

 reticulated bottom, in which there is a warty 

 eminence formed of horny fibres, so that, 

 if this wart were actually a tooth, the animal 

 would have four long, horny, flattened teeth 

 at the back of the mouth. 



The singular creature leads an aquatic life. 

 It excavates for itself burrows of from 20 to 

 25 feet in length 1 on the banks of quiet 

 streams and creeks where there is a muddy 

 bottom. The entrance to these burrows lies 

 under the water. Many side galleries are 

 given off in the course of the main burrow, 

 which ultimately leads to a chamber, some- 

 times found to contain the female with her 

 unshapely young. The latter are proved by 

 the contents of their stomachs actually to feed 

 on milk. As a rule, the duck-mole leaves 

 its burrow on the approach of night, yet it 

 sometimes tumbles about in the water even 

 by day. It swims and dives admirably, and 

 gropes about in the mud with its beak. On 

 the whole the duck-moles appear to be of 

 a lively and peaceable disposition ; the young 

 ones especially appear to be fond of playing 

 together, and their behaviour shows them 

 to be possessed of a keen scent and acute 

 hearing. They dive at the slightest sound. 

 Specimens of these animals have been kept 

 in captivity for a certain length of time, but 

 since their habits were not known, they have 

 ultimately either escaped, or been drowned, 

 or have died of hunger. 



[Dr. Bennett, a naturalist, who visited Australia 

 in the earlier part of the present century, having 

 procured two young specimens of the duck-mole, or 

 mallangong, as it is called by the natives, by digging 

 them out of a burrow 35 feet in length, was able to 

 make some interesting observations on their be- 

 haviour. " The little animals appeared often to 

 dream of swimming," he says ; " for I have frequent- 

 ly seen their fore-paws in movement as if in the act 

 If I placed them on the ground during the day, 

 they ran about seeking some dark corner for repose ; 

 and when put in a dark place, or in a box, they 

 huddled themselves up as soon as they became a 

 little reconciled to the locality, and went to sleep. 

 . . . They usually reposed side by side, looking 

 like a pair of furred balls, and surly little growls 

 issued from them when disturbed; nevertheless, 

 when very sound asleep, they might be handled and 



1 Bennett, author of the WamJmiigs of a A'atxra&a in Australasia, 

 mentions that the burrows of the duck-mole are sometimes 50 feet 

 in length. TK. 



