47 



the eyes little, and the teeth of extraordinary mag- 

 nitude; the hair is of great length, and the limbs are 

 extremely large and strong. It seems confined to 

 the coldest part of the globe, being found within 

 eighty degrees of north latitude, as far as any navi- 

 gators have yet penetrated. The shores of Hudson^s 

 Bay, Greenland, and Spitsbergen, are its principal 

 places of residence ; but it is said to be carried 

 sometimes on the floating ice as far south as New- 

 foundland. — The Polar Bear is an animal of tremen- 

 dous strength and fierceness. Barentz, in his vo}' age 

 in search of a North-east passage to China, had 

 proofs of the ferocity of these animals, in the Island 

 of Nova Zembla, where they attacked the seamen, 

 seizing them in their mouths, carrying them olF 

 with the greatest ease, and devouring them in the 

 sight of their comrades. It is said that they some- 

 times will attempt to board armed vessels at a distance 

 from shore, and have been repelled with difficulty. 

 Presented by S. Staniforth, Esq. of Liverpool. 



On one of the Basalt Columns near the Sea, is 

 the Platypus (Platypus Anatinus). 



Of all the quadrupeds yet known, this seems the 

 most extraordinary, exhibiting the perfect resem- 

 blance of the beak of a duck engrafted on the head of 

 a quadruped ; so great w as the resemblance, that Dr. 

 Shaw, who published the first account of it, could 

 scarcely refrain from thinking it a deception ; but 

 we are since become acquainted with the animal and 

 its habits. It is a native of New Holland, and is 

 found in fresh water lakes in the neighbourhood of 

 Port Jackson, in the muddy banks of which it pro- 

 cures its food. Governor Hunter observed a native 

 spear one w ith great dexterity ; but it used its sharp 

 claws with such strength, that it was necessary to 

 confine it between two boards in order to extract th« 

 H2 



