98 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY. 
with fine, long and thick hair, underneath which isa finer, short 
and very soft fur, resembling the two distinct kinds of fur found on 
the seal and the otter. On the abdomen, breast and throat the fur 
and hair are of a much finer quality and of a more silky nature ; but 
on the upper surface of the tail the hair is longer and coarser. The 
eneral colour ot the upper surface is a light black, the under short 
a being greyish ; the whole of the under surface is ferruginous. 
The legs are short, pentadactyle, and the feet webbed. On the fore 
feet the webs extend a short distance beyond the claws ; they are 
loose and fall back, when the animal burrows. The fore feet seem 
to have the greatest muscular power, they are in principal use for 
burrowing and swimming. The hind feet are short, being turned 
backwards ; and, when the animal is at rest, they have, like those 
of the seal, some resemblance toa fin The head is rather flat, from 
it project two flat lips or mandibles, resembling the beak of a 
shoveller duck, the lower of which is shorter and narrower than the 
upper, and has its internal edges channeled with numerous strie 
somewhat like those seen in the bill of a duck. It has eight horny 
teeth. The colour of the superior mandible is ofa dull, dirty, 
eyish black, interspersed with innumerable minute dots. At the 
base of both mandibles is a transverse loose fold or flap of integument 
similar in colour to the skin, that is, dull greyish-black above and 
white or mottled below. In the upper mandible this flap is con- 
tinued to the eyes and affords protection to those organs when the 
animal is burrowing, or seeking food inthe mud. The eyes are 
very small but brilliant, and of a light brown. The males have a 
spur on the internal part of the hind leg, some distance above the 
ae Both Mr. Gould and Dr. Bennett were of opinion that there 
was no poisonous gland connected with the spur, although they had 
had some hearsay evidence to the contrary. Dr. Bennett tried the 
effect of the spur on his bare arm. In May, 1894, Professor 
Anderson Stuart, in his address to the Royal Society of Sydney, 
stated :—‘* The poisonous action of the secretion of the gland con- 
nected with the spur has been alternately asserted and denied, but 
I have no doubt whatever that it is, at least at certain seasons, a 
powerful poison.” 
Habits.—The platypus is subaqueous and fossorial. It climbs 
stumps of trees near the water and snags which lie prostrate in the 
beds of rivers. It is seen in the early morning and in the evening, 
but during the daytime in only lowery weather. It swims with 
great ease, but remains only one or two minutes playing and 
paddling on the surface ; it then dives and reappears again a short 
distance off. In swimming the body of the animal is sometimes 
partly raised beaverlike above the surface ; while in still pools 
every part is submerged, except the upper surface of the bill and 
nostrils, these being but sufficiently elevated above the water to enable 
the animal to breathe. On seeing it the observer must remain per- 
fectly still, as the slightest noise or movement on his part would 
cause its instant disappearance, so acute is its sight and hearing. 
When disturbed it dives instantly with an audible splash, caused by 
