THE DUCKBILL. 207 



playful as kittens, sporting with each other in exactly 

 the same manner, knocking each other over, and pre- 

 tending to bite. They had even invented a game exactly 

 like our " hide-and-seek/' one of them concealing 

 itself and then calling the other to come and look for it. 



Although no living specimens have yet been trans- 

 mitted, many have been preserved in spirits of wine 

 and sent over for dissection. By these means we have 

 attained to some knowledge of the economy of this 

 wonderful creature, which hardly seems to belong to 

 the same epoch as ourselves. 



I recollect meeting with a dire disappointment with 

 regard to the anatomy of the Duckbill. At the dissect- 

 ing room in which I was then working, there arrived a 

 large jar of Australian creatures preserved in spirits. 

 Our exultation was great when among them was dis- 

 covered the body of a Duckbill. It was held up in 

 triumph, and we were gathering round it in extreme 

 anxiety, when an exclamation of horror and disgust 

 burst from our chief. The ingenious person who 

 placed the Duckbill in the jar had taken the precaution 

 to remove the whole of the interior, and so all our 

 anticipations were frustrated. 



However, others have been more fortunate ; and, 

 what with the researches of Professor Owen in this 

 country, and the observations of Dr. Bennett in 

 Australia, several of the mysteries relating to this 

 creature have been disclosed. Others yet remain un- 

 solved, involving the distinction, or, perhaps we may 

 say in this case, the relationship, between mammalia 

 and birds. It is to be hoped that these very puzzling 

 difficulties may be soon explained, as, if this be not 



