THE DUCK-BILL, OR MULLINGONG. 



77S 



very different idea of the animal from that which is obtained by the examination of 

 stuffed skins. The beak is well supplied with nerves, and appears to be a sensitive 

 organ of touch, by means of which the animal is enabled to feel as well as to smell the 

 insects and other creatures on which it feeds. 



The Mullingong is an essentially aquatic and burrowing animal, and is formed 

 expressly for its residence in the water, or under the earth. The fur is thick, soft, and 

 is readily dried while the animal enjoys good health, although it becomes wet and 

 draggled when the creature is weakly. The opening of the ears is small and can be 

 closed at will, and the feet are furnished with large and complete webs, extending 

 beyond the claws in the fore limbs, and to their base in the hind-legs. The fore-feet 

 are employed for digging as well as for swimming, and are therefore armed with power- 

 ful claws rather more than half an inch in length, and rounded at their extremities. 

 With such force can these natural tools be used, that the Duck-bill has been seen to 

 make a burrow two feet in length through hard gravelly soil in a space of ten 

 minutes. While digging, the animal employs its beak as well as its feet, and the 



DUCK-BILL, OR MVLUNQONG. Platypus Anatinus. 



webbed membrane contracts between the joints so as not to be seen. The hind-feet 

 of the male are furnished with a spur, about an inch in length, curved, perforated, and 

 connected with a gland situated near the ankle. It was once supposed that this spur 

 conveyed a poisonous liquid into the wound which it made, but this opinion has been 

 disproved by Dr. Bennett, who frequently permitted, and even forced the animal to 

 wound him with its spurs, and experienced no ill consequences beyond the actual wound. 

 The animal has the power of folding back the spur so as to conceal it entirely, and is 

 then sometimes mistaken for a female. 



The color of the adult animal is a soft dark brown, interspersed with a number of 

 glistening points which are produced by the long and shining hairs which protrude 

 through the inner fur. Upon the abdomen the fur is a light fawn, and even softer 

 than on the back. The under surface of the tail is devoid of hair denuded, as some 

 think, in forming its habitation and the upper surface is covered with stiff, bristly hairs, 

 brown towards the base and quite black at the extremity. The first coat of the young 

 Duck-bill is always a bright, reddish-brown. 



It can run on land and swim in water with equal ease, and is sufficiently active to be 

 able to climb well. Some of the animals that were kept by Dr. Bennett were in the habit 

 of ascending a perpendicular bookcase, performing this curious feat by placing their backs 

 against the wall and the feet upon the shelves, and so pushing themselves upwards as a 



