ONOTREMAT. 



=2 



THE DUCK MOLE AND AUSTRALIAN HEDGE- 

 HOG. 



THE MONOTREMATA — THE FAMILY ORNITHORHYNCHID/E — THE DUCK MOLE — THE FAMILY ECHID- 

 mDJE — THE NATIVE HEDGEHOG — THE TASMANIAN SPECIES — CONCLUSION. 



THE strange animals belonging to the order MONOTREMATA 

 appear to be a link between Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles. 

 That they are Mammals, is beyond dispute, for the females 

 have lacteal glands, and secrete genuine milk ; but their interior 

 anatomy is that which is familiar to us in birds ; externally, and as 

 regards the skeleton, they are the very opposite of birds. They are 

 small mammals, with short limbs, beak-like jaws covered with a dry 

 skin, small eyes, a short flat tail, feet with five long toes and powerful 

 claws. Thev have no external ear. 



THE DUCK-BILLS. 



The family Ornithorhyjsxhid^ is found in East and South Australia 

 and Tasmania. It is represented by a solitary species of a single genus, 

 an animal of so strange an appearance, that when the first stuffed speci- 

 men was brought to England, it was taken for the contrivance of some 

 swindler. 



GENUS ORNITHORHYNCHUS. 



The Duck Mole, Ornithorhynchus paradoxus (Plate LXIV), is known 

 also as the MULLINGONG. The name Ornithorhynchus signifies "bird's 

 beak," and describes the duck-like bill the creature possesses. It is an 



