31 



dive as he worked li:s head and fore-feet about. He never 

 remained under water longer than a trifle over half a minute, 

 and stayed on the surface between the dives rather less than 

 half a minute, as ascertained by careful timing during seven 

 or eight dives. While under the water, whether burrowing 

 in the gravel, or seeking a fresh spot iu which to burrow, he 

 emitted a large quantity of small bubbles, which, rising con- 

 stantly to the surface, would have accurately marked his 

 position, even if the clearness of the water had not enabled me 

 to see him the whole time. The fur seemed to repel the water 

 just as the feathers of a water-bird do, and appeared perfectly 

 dry the instant the back emerged above the surface. He 

 generally remained motionless on the surface except that the 

 ujDper and lower mandibles were working rapidly with a lateral 

 grinding motion, just as one might expect from the flat horny 

 rudiments of teeth, and the nature of the articulations between 

 the jaws. From the time I first saw him till he quietly sailed 

 off for his burrow (which I subsequently found at the lower 

 end of the pool) his operations lasted over three quarters of 

 an hour. 



Several times during his burrowing in the gravel, an 

 English trout of nearly half a pound weight made his appear- 

 ance on the outskirt of the cloud of sediment raised by the 

 platypus, and darted on some prey which was too minute for 

 me to distinguish — the fish evidently having no fear of its 

 neighbour. 



As the spawning time of our Tasmanian grayling was then 

 commencing in the earlier rivers (of which the Mount Eiver 

 is one) I had a strong suspicion that the platypus was collect- 

 ing ova for anything but a righteous purpose, and, therefore, 

 as soon as he had cleared out for the night, I waded on to the 

 uj)per part of the gravel bed where it w^as somewhat shallower, 

 and brought a few handfuls on shore for examination ; in this 

 there were no eggs, but a large number of caddis grubs or 

 pup89 of a small stone-fly belonging to the Phryganidse, which 

 appear to abound in some of our rivers, and these doubtless 

 were the attraction, as I well remember dissecting specimens 

 of the Platypus in which the curious cheek pouches were found 

 distended with the cases of similar caddis grubs. 



Although no fish eggs were found in this particular gravel 

 bed, it bore so close a resemblance to a large trout rid, to rob 

 which tlie whole of the animals operations so evidently fit him, 

 that though an advocate for living and let live, I cannot con- 

 scientiously recommend the owners of trout streams to en- 

 courage the presence of the Ormtliorliynclms anatinus. 



