His form was still commanding--there was something in the air with which the cap was worn--and in the strap round his Swiss blouse--that bespoke the soldier and the gentleman: but his face was sadly attenuated--the lower jaw appeared to have fallen in--and his hair was very grey. He received his guest with a cordial and sincere welcome. While the latter delivered his packet the native who had warped the punt over, came up with the dead platypus, "Well, Boomeroo! is it a female?" "No, massa! full grown--with large spur!" Sir Henry saw that his guest was puzzled by this dialogue, and good-naturedly showed him the distinguishing characteristic of the male ornithorhynchus--the spur on the hinder foot, which is hollow, and transmits an envenomed liquid, secreted by a gland on the inner surface of the thigh. In November, of the year preceding, a burrow of the animal had been opened on the bank of the river, which contained the dam, and three live young ones;--there were many points, yet to be determined relative to its interior organization; and it was on this account, that Sir Henry was anxious to obtain a female specimen at this particular period. As he spoke, Delmé introduced the stranger to his study, which might more aptly be styled a museum;--applied some spirits of wine to the platypus, and placing it under a bell-glass for the morrow's examination, left him turning over his collection of birds, while he perused his valued home letters. It was with unmixed pleasure, knowing as he did his melancholy history, that the stranger found Sir Henry Delmé engaged in pursuits, which it was evident he was following up with no common enthusiasm. In truth, a mere accidental circumstance,--the difficulty of obtaining a vessel at one of the Indian Islands for any port,--had at first brought him to Australia, a country regarding which he had felt little curiosity. The strange varieties, however, of its animal kingdom, had interested him;--he was struck with the rapid strides that that country has made in half a century--and he continued from month to month to occupy the house where his friend had now found him. To the stranger's eye, the eye of a novice, the well arranged specimens of birds of the most beautiful plumage--of animals, chiefly marsupial, of the most singular developement--of glittering insects--and of deep coloured shells; were attractive wonders enough; but from the skeletons beside these, it was quite clear, that Delmé had acquired considerable knowledge as to the internal construction of the animals themselves--that he had studied the subsisting relations, between the mechanism and the movements--the structure, and its varied functions. After dinner, Sir Henry Delmé, who appeared to think that the bearer of his despatches had conferred on him a lasting favour, threw off his habitual reserve, and delighted and interested him with his tales of foreign travel.