340 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



I had shot a couple of foxes, and was '-- toting " them 

 mto camp, when I heard a rustling in the underbrush 

 along a stream running beside the trail, and out hopped 

 a frog-like bat, with the tail of a beaver ! This is the 

 best way I can describe him, even after shooting and 

 dissecting him. He was like an American beaver in 

 other respects than his broad, flat tail ; but his throat 

 and long web-footed hind legs were those of a frog ; 

 while the membrane from his fore-feet to his side re- 

 sembled the wings of a bat. 



Opening this curiosity carefully, I found several small 

 fish in his stomach, and an old button! — certainly a 

 light breakfast ! I took the greatest pains with this 

 specimen, wishing to identify it when I returned to 

 America, and packed it with my most valued posses- 

 sions, intrusting the package to Thursday, who insisted 

 on going back to Melbourne to see me safely off. But 

 I was fated never to see it again. Between the wharf, 

 where I parted with the faithful fellow, and the hold 

 of the vessel the package mysteriously disappeared ; and 

 I have never been quite sure whether I was the victim 

 of a practical joke, or whether I really was the dis- 

 coverer of a new species, of which the knowledge 

 perished with the lost package. 



University Press: John W'ilsnn iind Son, Cambridfce 



