ORNITHORHYNCHUS PARADOXUS. 315 



1. Platypus anatirius, Shaw. 

 Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, Blumenbach ? 



, rufus, Peron, Leach, and Deem. 



laevis, Macgillivray. 



brevirostris, Ogilby. 



2. Ornithorhynchus fuscus, Peron, Leach, and Desm. 

 crispus, Macgillivray. 



Both these species, or varieties, are found in New 

 South Wales, and one of them at least in Van Die- 

 men's Land. In the Catalogue of the Sidney Museum 

 we are informed, that this animal is called by the 

 aborigines of Gas, Murrumhidgee, &c., Mallangong, 

 and Tambreet : it is the Water-mole of the colonists. 



The most perfect account of the habits of the Orni- 

 thorhynchus hitherto published, is from the pen of Mr. 

 George Bennett, in the Transactions of the Zoological 

 Society, Vol. L, p. 229. Some portions of this paper 

 I shall proceed to extract. 



Mr. G. Bennett's observations were commenced 

 on the 4th of October 1832, at Mundoona in the 

 Murray County, on a part of the Yas River running 

 through the estate of Mr. James Rose. The Water- 

 Moles (as these animals are called by the Colonists,) 

 chiefly frequent the open and tranquil parts of the 

 stream, covered with aquatic plants, where the steep 

 and shaded banks afford excellent situations for the 

 excavation of their burrows. Such expanses of water 

 are by the Colonists called " ponds." The animals 

 may be readily recognized by their dark bodies just 

 seen level with the surface, above which the head is 

 slightly raised, and by the circles made in the water 



