Show A QUEER LITTLE ANIMAL ahe australian duckbill carrier a sting zu in one australia certainly holds the palm for sneer and ad uncouth animals says the literary digest chief among these is the duel duckbill bill or which sydney smith described as a kind of mole with webbed feet and the bill of a duck which agitated sir joseph banks and rendered him miserable from his utter inability ability to decide whether it was a bird or a beast it was only recently that it was waa proved beyond a doubt that this curious animal lays eggs dikea like a bird though this had long been reported by travelers now comes the that it has a sting on its hind leg capable of lalling by its poisonous effects we quote from the lancet for a long time it was considered to be quite harmless and destitute of any we aponof weapon of of offense ferise although the hind bind legs of the males were armed with witha a powerful spur apparently connected with a gland then the opinion was advanced that this might be a weapon allied to the poisonous armory of snakes scorpions and bees all of which possess a sort of hypodermic poison syringe though ono one set of observers usser asserted ted that this was the case another set denied it and so dr stuart determined to solve this question if possible ile he received two independent accounts which coincided perfectly and from them be concludes that at certain seasons at all events the secretion is virulently poisonous the mode of attack is not by scratching but by lateral inward movements of the hind legs two cases aro are reported in dogs ono dog was stu stung rigi three times the symptoms much resembling n those of bee or hornet poison the dog was evidently in great pain and drowsy but there were no tremors can convulsions or staggering it is worthy of note that a certain immunity seems obtainable tai for the dog suffered less on the second occasion and still less on the third two cases of men being wounded are reported in both of which the animals were irritated one by being shot and handled tb the other by being 0 handled only the symptoms were the same as in ill tho the dog no deaths are reported in human furnari beings but four in dogs doga |