266 MONOTBEMATA. 



THE MONOTREMATA. 



The Monotremata are an order of Australian Mam- 

 mals whose young are hatched from eggs laid by the fe- 

 male, and they are known as egg-laying mammals, because 

 the young when hatched are suckled by the mother. 



The Platybus (Ornithorhynchus-anatinus), or as it is 

 sometimes called the Duck Bill, because of the bill which 

 forms the extremity of its head, has a mole-like brownish 

 black under fur that excells that of the seal in richness. 

 The color of the water hairs that protect the under fur 

 are a silvery brown on top and lighter on the belly, giving 

 the animal a beautiful appearance when in full pelage. 



The Platybus is a small animal, from eighteen to 

 twenty inches long from tip to tip ; in structure it some- 

 what resembles the reptiles, and like all water animals 

 has a thick pelt and no external ears. It has no teeth. The 

 eyes are small, and the bill is perforated with two holes 

 for nostrils. The limbs are short, and each foot has five 

 complete toes furnished with strong nails. The fore feet 

 are webbed considerably beyond the extremity of the 

 nails, but on the hind feet the web reaches only to the 

 base of the nails. The nails of the fore feet are some- 

 what flattened and expanded, but those on the hind feet 

 are longer, narrow and curved. The heel of the Platybus 

 is furnished with a spur like that of the gamecock but not 

 so long. 



The Platybus lives in burrows from twenty to forty 

 feet deep, with one entrance to its nest from the land and 

 another from the water. The young are bom hairless and 

 blind and totally unlike the full grown animal, having 

 short fleshy lips with which to obtain the milk from the 

 mammae of the parent. While possessing marsupial 

 bones similar to those of the Pouched Mammals the female 

 Platybus has no pouch. 



Dehaired and dyed, the fur of the Platybus is much 

 finer than that of the seal, and well adapted for the manu- 

 facture of caps and other small articles or trimming orna- 

 ments, but comparatively few skins reach the fur markets 

 of the world. 



