THE ORNITHGEYNCHUS PAEADOXUS. 37 
it would be tedious to describe its external muscles, which, 
so far as I could judge, did not differ greatly from those 
of the Mammalia *. 
On the Poison-Gland and Spur. 
It seldom happens that Nature leaves animals unprovided 
with means of defence against their enemies, and she has 
furnished the Ornithorynchus Paradoxus with one of the 
most extraordinary which probably exists. The compara- 
tive anatomists, as well of the Continent as of England, 
who first examined this animal, viewed the spurs as con- 
nected with the organs of generation : they were evidently 
peculiar to the male ; and it was conjectured by Sir E. 
Home, and by the celebrated Cuvier, that they were 
merely accessory organs, and were accordingly classed with 
the organs of prehension. They are thus described in the 
Anatome Comparee : " L'ergot de rOrnithorinque et de 
TEchidne est compose de deux osselets ou de deux pha- 
langes, dont Tune tres court, applatie, s'articuli sur une fa- 
cette de Tastragale, situee du cote interne et inferieur de 
cet OS, et Tautre orgueale plus longe, de figure conique, 
sert de moule a la corne qui forme Tergot. Cette corne est 
pointue, assez longue, fixee du cote interne de Tarticulation 
du pied, ayant sa pointe dirigee en dedans.^"* — Tom. v, 
p. 116. 
A similar opinion was formed of the use of these spurs 
by most French and German anatomists. Some years after, 
a brief notice found its way to this country of severe cases 
of poisoning having followed a wound made by the spur 
of the Ornithorynchus. In consequence of this notice, the 
attention of anatomists was roused, and a specimen ex- 
amined by Dr De Blainville, and one by Professor 
* I thought I noticed a third eye-lid, though very small. 
