so LECTURE III. 



pressed shape, with a rather small head, and eyes 

 so small, and so deeplj^ imbedded in the fur, as 

 not to be distinctly visible without a close in- 

 spection : the tail is broad, rather short, and very 

 slightly pointed. The whole animal is thickly 

 covered with strong, but soft and glossy hair, 

 which on the upper parts is of a deep iron-grey, 

 more or less intense in different individuals, and 

 on the under-parts considerably paler • in some 

 specimens whitish. The general length of the 

 animal, from the tip of the bill to that of the tail, 

 is from twelve to sixteen or eighteen inches. 



This most extraordinary and dubious qua- 

 druped is a native of Australasia or New Hol- 

 land, where it inhabits fresh-water lakes, and is 

 supposed to feed on worms, water-insects, and 

 perhaps on various weeds, in the manner of a 

 Duck. It is obhged to rise every now and tlien 

 to the surface in order to breathe, and it is at this 

 particular juncture that it is principally taken, by 

 transfixing it with a small kind of harpoon. It is 

 supposed to burrow, at a considerable depth into 

 the banks of the waters it inhabits. 



If there be no mistake in the anatomical dis- 

 quisitions hitherto made on the Duckbill, its in 



