204 MONOTREMATOUS WATER TRESPASSERS. 



summer-house and stable, and, having a southern ex- 

 posure, ripened admirably. 



The entomological reader will probably recollect 

 that the larva of the tiger-beetle acts in exactly the 

 same manner. When it ascends its perpendicular 

 burrow, it wriggles itself upwards by bending its 

 body, and pressing alternately with its back and belly 

 against the sides of the tunnel. When it wishes to 

 descend, it has only to straighten its body, and down 

 it falls by its own weight. 



The animal is not only a good climber, but an 

 accomplished burrower. The fore paws, whjch are 

 such admirable instruments of propulsion in the water, 

 and aid it so well in climbing, are equally useful when 

 intended to perform the office of a spade. When the 

 animal is on land, the web collapses between the toes, 

 and leaves the claws free to perform their task of 

 digging. 



Like many other aquatic animals, the Duckbill lives 

 in burrows which it excavates in the bank. These 

 burrows are often of very great length seldom less 

 than twenty feet long, and sometimes reaching the 

 great length of fifty feet. They always ascend, so 

 that the water cannot rise far into them; and they 

 have the peculiarity that there are two entrances one 

 above the surface of the water, and the other below it. 

 The former is generally about a yard or so from the 

 surface of the water, while the other is below it ; 

 this secondary passage joining the main burrow a 

 short distance from the other entrance. 



Thus the animal can regain its home either by 

 water or by land. If, for example, it has been lying 



