Miners, Diggers, and Carpenters. 



his burden. Having deposited the mass, he pauses for a 

 moment, rolling his eyes, which are mounted on long, 

 slender stalks, round in the most comical fashion, and 

 then hurriedly returns to his digging. The exact use 

 of the immense claw of the male Calling Crab does 

 not seem to be known ; it is supposed that he stops 

 the mouth of his burrow with it when he and the female 

 are safe inside. It certainly is used to some extent in 

 combats with other males ; while Professor Alcock, 

 from observations made in the Indian Ocean, believes 

 that it is used for exciting the admiration of the female 

 in courtship, as the huge claw is bright red in colour, 

 and he has seen the male brandish it about before the 

 female, as if displaying to the fullest its florid beauty. 

 In the female both claws are quite small. 



One of the most remarkable diggers in the animal 

 world is a native of that wonderful country, Australia ; 

 it is called the Duck-billed Platypus, or Ornithorhynchus. 

 At the first glance one would hardly imagine that this 

 curious-looking animal, with its flat, webbed feet and 

 broad bill, so like the feet and beak of a duck, would 

 be an expert digger, yet such is really the case, the 

 animal making burrows and tunnels of considerable 

 length and complexity. The broad web which extends 

 beyond the claws falls back, when the animal is digging, 

 in such a way as not to impede the operation in the 

 least, and materially aids the Duckbill in flinging back 

 the earth which its claws have scraped away. The 

 Duckbill is essentially an aquatic animal, always making 

 its home in the bank of some stream, often showing a 

 marked preference for those wider and quieter parts of 

 the river which resemble large pools. Here in the bank, 



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