NATURAL HISTORY. 
21 
SALOON.] 
(Phascolomysfusca , Desm.), the Pigmy Opossum ( Didel - 
phis pygmcea, Shaw), and the Flying Opossum (Didelphis 
petaurus, Shaw), all from New Holland. 
Case 23 contains the minor animals belonging to the 
order Glires, as the Water Rat, (Mus amphibius , Linn.), 
Dormice, (M. glis, Linn.), Pouched Rat, ( M . bursarius , 
Shaw), Chinchilla, (Chinchilla Laniger , Gray), valuable 
for its peculiarly soft fur ; and a series of Squirrels from 
various parts of the world. 
Case 24 contains other Glires, as the Flying Squirrel, 
(Scuirus volans , Linn.), Hare, Rabbit, ( Lepus timidus , and 
L. cuniculus, Linn.), and the prehensile-tailed Porcupine 
( Hystrix insidiosa , Illig.) ; also some of the smaller 
Edentata, as two species of Armadillo (Dasypus duodecimo 
cinctus , and minutus , Desm.), from South America ; the 
long and the short-tailed Manis, the former from India, 
and the latter from Africa [Manis tetradactyla and penta - 
dactyla , Linn.),—very young specimens of the two, and of 
the three-toed Sloth ( Bradypus didactylus and tridactylus , 
Linn.) ; the Small Ant-eater ( Myrmecophaga didactyla , 
Linn.), from South America; and the Ornithorhynchus, 
or Duck-billed Platypus (0. Paradoxus, Blumenb.), from 
New Holland, 
The forms of the Armadillo and the Manis, and the 
curious shields with which they are furnished by nature 
are sufficiently wonderful; but the structure of the Orni¬ 
thorhynchus is so anomalous, that Dr. Shaw, who first 
described this “ most extraordinary genus ” in the Natu¬ 
ralist's Miscellany, hesitated whether to admit it into his 
History of Quadrupeds, in the first volume of his General 
Zoology,—for as the original description was given from 
the only individual at that time known, “ it was,” he 
tells us, “ impossible not to entertain some doubts as 
to the genuine nature of the animal, and to surmise, 
that though in appearance perfectly natural, there might 
still have been practised some arts of deception in its 
structure.” An animal, “ exhibiting the perfect resem¬ 
blance of the beak of a duck engrafted on the head of 
a quadruped,” might well excite suspicions of imposture, 
till its claim to be received as a genuine production of 
nature was confirmed by the arrival of other specimens 
from the same locality. 
