NATURAL HISTORY. 141 



&quot; And that if he wol sayn it is not thus, 

 I wol it prove, and finder good witnesse, 

 That soth is that my bitle wol expresse.&quot; CHAUCER. 



Mr. Waterton also remarks &quot; In the far-extending wilds of Guiana, the travelled 

 will be astonished at the immense number of ants which he perceives on the ground 

 as well as in the trees. They have nests in the branches four or five times as large 

 as that of the rook ; and they have a covered way from them to the ground. In 

 this covered way thousands are continually passing and repassing, and if you 

 destroy part of it they immediately repair it. Other species of ants have no 

 covered way, but travel exposed to view upon the surface of the earth. You will 

 sometimes see a string of these ants a mile long, each carrying in his mouth to its 

 nest a green leaf the size of a sixpence. 



426. Why is the ornythorynchus so called ? 



From two Greek words, sig 

 nifying a fowl and a beak, in 

 allusion to the peculiar form of 

 its muzzle, which resembles 

 the bill of a duck ; it is called 

 also the duck-billed platypus, 

 and the water mole. It is 

 also web-footed, its feet being 

 equally adapted for digging or 

 swimming. 



427. Why is the ornythorynchus provided with this duck-like 

 appendage ? 



Because, although a quadruped, the animal inhabits the water, 

 living in burrows on its borders, and being insectivorous, finds 

 its food, as the duck in part does, by exploring the plants 

 and herbs along the margins of fresh-water rivers and lakes. 

 The broad beak acts as a kind of shovel. It is peculiar to 

 Australia and Van Dieman s Land, and has been regarded 

 by naturalists as a link between the aquatic birds and the 

 mammalia. 



428. So peculiar is the formuMon of its muzzle, that when a specimen was first 

 sent to this country a general suspicion was excited that a hoax was designed 

 Dr. Shaw expressed the opinio-* that of all the mammalia, the ornythorynchus was 

 the most extraordinary in ** /onformation ; exhibiting a perfect resemblance to 

 the beak of a duck, engraf^d upon the head of a quadruped. 



