1356 



. / 1 'V TR A LA SI A ILL USTRA 77:7 >. 



legs, and, unlike its ally, the echidna, a long tail, which in shape is not very unlike 

 that of the beaver, being flattened from above downwards, and clothed with coarse fur. 

 But the most striking part of the platypus is the head, in which the jaws are so 

 modified that they have very much the shape and appearance of the bill of a duck, 



though broader in propor- 

 tion ; they are prolonged 

 and flattened from above 

 downwards, and are covered 

 with a tough and leathery 

 naked skin. At the base 

 of the upper jaw this naked 

 skin forms a free fold or 

 flap, which, when the animal 

 is groping duck-like in the 

 mud, is turned forwards 

 and protects the eyes and 

 the fur of the head from 

 the stirred-up ooze. The 

 palate of the platypus is 

 provided with a number of 



cross ridges, like that of the duck, and serving 

 the same purpose, namely, that of filtering out 

 the food from the mucl and water. The eyes 

 are very small, and the outer shell or pinna of 

 the ear is absent. The whole surface is covered 

 with a close fur in which there are hairs of two 

 kinds finer and shorter hairs, which are much 

 the more numerous and constitute the chief sub- 

 stance of the fur, and longer and coarser, more 

 flattened hairs, which are scattered over the sur- 

 face. The legs are short and strong, and the feet 



have a remarkable shape, owing to their adaptation to the two functions of swim- 

 ming and burrowing. The foot is adapted for swimming by having, extending between 

 the toes, a web of leathery skin like the web of the foot of a cluck or a swan, but it 

 is also adapted for digging or burrowing by having all the toes, which are five in each foot, 

 armed with powerful claws; when the animal is burrowing the front part of the web of 

 the fore-feet, which is a free flap, can be folded back, so as not to impede the action of 

 the claws. In the male platypus there is to be found projecting inwards from the hind 

 foot a curved and pointed spur, at the apex of which opens a fine canal connected 

 with a gland. The presence of this canal, running from the gland to the end of the 

 spur, leads one to inquire if this spur has a similar function to the poison-fang of a 

 snake, to which it bears a considerable resemblance. Though, however, severe wounds 

 have been produced by the spur, there is no evidence of the occurrence of any specific 

 poisonous action ; the spur is probably used by the males in fighting. 



THE RIFLE BIRD. 



