228 



PLATYPUS. 



Generic Character 



Os anatinum. 

 Pedes palmati. 



Mouth shaped like the bill of 



a duck. 

 Feet webbed. 



Oi 



'F this most extraordinary genus the first de- 

 scription appeared in the Naturalist's Miscellany; 

 but as the individual there described was the only 

 one which had been seen, it was impossible not to 

 entertain some distant 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. I, therefore, hesitated as to admitting 

 it into the present History of Quadrupeds. Two 

 more specimens, however, having been very lately 

 sent over from New Holland, by Governor Hun- 

 ter, to Sir Joseph Banks, the suspicions before 

 mentioned are now completely dissipated. I shall, 

 therefore, here repeat my first description in the 

 work above mentioned, and have only to observe, 

 that the genus should be placed, as there pro- 

 posed, next to that of Myrmecophaga, in the pre- 

 sent order of Bruta. 



