Transcription

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
 

THE ORNITHORYNCHUS  PARADOXUS OF PLATIBUS [PLATYPUS] , SOMETIMES NAMED THE WATER MOLE -
 

This Animal is from eighteen to twenty inches long, and has a double coat of fur similar to the seal, the colour of which is dark brown, the fur underneath is very fine, It has a bill like a duck from an inch and a half to two inches broad and round at the point which is black and similar to soft tanned leather. It is wet footed having fine claws on the fore feet the web extending an inch past the ends of the claws. The hind feet are similar to the feet of the seal.  In the Male a spur similar to the spur of a Common fowl is on the hind legs; the peculiarity of which is a recess which received the spur at the Animals pleasure.
The tail is very broad & flat about one third the length of its body, and is one Complete Mass of fat.
This animal omits a very pure oil possessing a peculiar odour similar to fish oil, with which it anoints its body. The food of this animal appears to be a small red worm got from the ground, beds of deep pools, Eels, fish & shrimps.
The internal structure of this animal presents a most strikingly curious contrast, it possesses a
heart, liver, lungs & kidney precisely similar to the Hare and Rabbit, the lungs are small in proportion to those of other animals of a similar size, and has a smell like a pig. It has no stomach, but merely an intestinal Canal similar to that of some fish, the thicker part of which is furnished with a Coating similar to the Coating of the stomachs of other small animals -
The skin is nearly an eighth of an inch thick. On
skinning this animal a thin fleshy filliament [filament] adheres to the skin all over the body excepting the tail, - It possesses four teeth if they may be so called of a flat horny substance occupying one third of the Jaw. The eyes are very small & similar to that of the Mole - As to its habits little is known excepting that he burrows in the sides of deep pools, and returns to his hole under the water.
In desecting [dissecting] the

 

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