THE AARD VARK . 
27 
a future page) are absolutely swarming with inmates; and it is 
for the purpose of feeding upon the tiny builders that the Aard 
Vark plies its destructive labours. 
Towards evening the Aard Vark issues from the burrow 
wherein it has lain asleep during the day, proceeds to the 
plains, and searches for an ant-hill in full operation. With its 
powerful claws it tears a hole in the side of the hill, breaking 
up the stony walls with perfect ease, and scattering dismay 
among the inmates. As the ants run hither and thither, in 
consternation, their dwelling falling like a city shaken by an 
earthquake, the author of all this misery flings its slimy tongue 
among them, and sweeps them into its mouth by hundreds. 
Perhaps the ants have no conception of their great enemy as a 
fellow-creature, but look upon the Aard Vark as we look upon 
an earthquake, the plague, or any other disturbance of the 
usual routine of nature. Be this as it may, the Aard Vark tears 
to pieces many a goodly edifice, and depopulates many a swarm- 
ing colony, leaving a mere shell of irregular stony wall in the 
place of the complicated and marvellous structure which had 
sheltered so vast a population. 
There are two large islands, one large enough to take rank 
as a continent, which are pre-eminent for the strange character 
of the creatures which inhabit them. Whenever an animal of 
more than usual oddity is brought to England, we may safely 
conjecture that it was taken either in Madagascar or Australia. 
The creatures which we are now about to examine are natives 
of the latter country. 
Perhaps there never was a more extraordinary and unique 
being than the well-known animal which is so familiar to us 
under many titles. Some call it the Duckbill, on account of 
its mandibles, which are ludicrously like those of the bird from 
which it derives its name. Others call it the Water Mole, on 
account of its aquatic habits and mole-like fur. 
Some scientific naturalists have called it the Ornithorhynclms 
paradoxus ; others have given it the name of Platypus anatinus 
—the former title being to my mind by far the more appropriate 
