THE PLATYPUS 



(Ornithorhynchus anatinus) 



IT is not astonishing that the first specimens of this creature which 

 reached Europe should have been suspected of being " faked " ; for no 

 one could reasonably be expected to believe in the genuineness of a 

 skin which seemed to have come from a web-footed Mole as big as a 

 small Rabbit, provided with a Duck's bill ! The bill of the creature 

 has, indeed, a peculiarly artificial look, as the skin of it is continued 

 as a sort of flap at the base, giving it the appearance of being fastened 

 on ; it is much softer in life than would appear from the examination 

 of stuffed specimens, and the nostrils are situated towards the tip, not 

 at the base as in most real Ducks, though in one of our British species, 

 the Golden-eye Duck (Clangula glaucion) they occupy much the same 

 position. The inside of these Duck-like jaws is provided in the Platypus 

 with flat horny plates, which serve as teeth in chewing the food ; but 

 in young specimens there are true teeth, two pairs of broad flat 

 grinders with very complicated crowns, and a minute pair in front of 

 these. Like the Echidna, the Platypus has no external ears. 



The legs of the creature are excessively short and furnished on 

 each foot with five toes, strongly clawed and fully webbed ; on the 

 fore-feet, indeed, the web extends well beyond the tips of the claws, 

 but it is folded back when the animal is walking or engaged in digging. 

 On the hind feet there is in the male a horny spur on the heel, per- 

 forated to discharge the secretion of a gland in the leg, as in the case 

 of the male Echidna. There has been considerable discussion as to 

 this structure, so analogous to the poison-fangs and glands of veno- 

 mous Snakes ; and it seems that the secretion is poisonous, though 

 very faintly so, while the animal is not in the ordinary way at all 

 inclined to use its spurs in self-defence. It is, however, not the 

 easiest creature to handle, as its skin is so loose that it feels as if 



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