PLATYPUS. 
the calyx. Gathered by Mr. Brown in Van Diemen’s 
ifland, and fent to Kew in 1805. It is kept in the green- 
houfe, and flowers from June to September. Curtis’s 
Mag-, t. 1508. 
PLAT'YPUS,/. [from the Gr. TrXarv?, flat, and wa?, 
foot, on account of the ftiape of the paws.] A genus 
of quadrupeds of the order bruta. Generic characters 
—Mouth lhaped like the bill of a duck; feet palmate. 
There is only one fpecies. 
Platypus anatinus, the duck billed platypus. This 
extraordinary animal is placed by Dr. Shaw next to the 
genus Myrmecophaga ; fee that article, vol. xvi. p. 449. 
Of all the quadrupeds yet known, this feems the moll ex¬ 
traordinary in its conformation ; exhibiting the perfect 
refemblance of the beak of a duck engrafted on the head 
of a quadruped. So accurate is the limilitude, that at 
firll view it naturally excites 1 the idea of fome deceptive 
preparation of artificial means; the very epidermis, pro¬ 
portion, ferratures, manner of opening, and other par¬ 
ticulars, of the beak of a (hoveller, or other broad-billed 
fpecies of duck, prefenting themfelves to the view : nor 
is it without the mod minute and rigid examination 
that we can perfuade ourfelves of its being the real beak 
or fnout of a quadruped. It is a native of Auftralafia, 
or New Holland ; and, when firft defcribed, from a dried 
imperfeft fpecinten, or merely a flcin, it was called, 
generically, Ornithorhynchus, or bird-mouth. It is now 
called Platypus, or flat-foot; but the fpecific name, 
paradoxus, originally given to it, it never Ihould havebeen 
deprived of, for paradoxical it really is; and it certainly 
has not yet acquired its proper clafs and order in the fyItem, 
fince it has been recently difcovered to be oviparous and 
amphibious. 
Dr. Shaw examined the fpecimen with great care; 
and was the firft perfon who gave the public a general 
idea of this creature. But he was apprehenfive that 
a trick was played him, and that he might have before 
him an ingenious compofition, like the late mermaid 
(1823,) or the prefent merman (1824). “ On a lubjeCl 
lo extraordinary as the prefent,” fays he, “a degree of 
fcepticifm is not only pardonable, but laudable ; and I 
ought perhaps to acknowledge that I almoft doubt the 
teftimony of my own eyes with refpefl to the ftrufture of 
this animal’s beak 5 yet muft confefs that I can perceive 
no appearance of any deceptive preparation ; and the 
edges of the ridlus, the infertion, &c. when tried by the 
teft of maceration in water, fo as to render every part 
completely moveable, feem perfeftly natural; nor can 
the moll accurate examination of expert anatomifts dif- 
cover any deception in this particular.” 
The doflor then proceeds with his defcription as 
follows: “ The bodyisdepreffed, and has fome refemblance 
to that of an otter in miniature: it is covered with a 
very thick, foft, and beaver-like, fur; and is of a mode¬ 
rately dark brown above, and of a fubferruginous white 
beneath. The head is flattifh, and rather fmall than 
large : the mouth or fnout, as before obferved, fo exa&ly 
refembles that of fome broad-billed fpecies of duck, that 
it might be miftaken for fuch: round the bafe is a flat 
circular membrane, fomewhat deeper or wider below 
than above ; viz. below near the fifth of an inch, and 
above about an eighth. The tail is flat, furry like the 
body, rather ftiort, and obtufe, with an almoft bifid ter¬ 
mination : it is broader at the bafe, and gradually Ieffens 
to the tip, and is about three inches in length: its 
colour is fimilar to that of the body. The length of the 
whole animal from the tip of the beak to that of the tail 
is thirteen inches: of the beak an inch and a half. The 
legs are-very ftiort, terminating in abroad web, which on 
the fore-feet extends to a confiderable diftance beyond 
the claws ; but on the hind feet reaches no farther than 
the roots of the claws. On the fore-feet are five claws, 
ftraight, ftrong, and ftiarp-pointed : the two exterior 
ones fomewhat fliorter than the three middle ones. On 
the hind-feet are fix claws, longer and more inclining to 
Vol. XX, No. 1397. 
637 
a curved form than thofe of the fore-feet: the exterior 
toe and claw are confiderably fliorter than the four middle 
ones; the interior, or fixtli, is feated much higher up 
than the reft, and refembles a ftrong (harp fpur. All the 
legs are hairy above ; the fore-feet are naked both above 
and below; but the hind feet are hairy above and naked 
below. The internal edges of the upper mandible 
(which is narrower than the upper) are ferrated or 
channelled with numerous ftrias, as in a duck’s bill. 
The noftrils are fmall and round, and are fituated about 
a quarter of an inch from the tip of the bill, and are 
about the eighth of an inch dillant from each other. 
There is no appearance of teeth ;” thefe have been dif¬ 
covered fince. “ The ears, or auditory foramina, are 
placed about an inch beyond the eyes; they appear like 
a pair of oval holes of the eighth of an inch in diameter, 
there being no external ear. On the upper part of the 
head, on each fide, a little beyond the beak, are fituated 
two fmallifti oval white fpots, in the lower part of each of 
which are imbedded the eyes, or at lead the parts allotted 
to the animal for fome kind of vifion ; for, from the 
thicknefs of the fur, and the fmallnefs of the organs, they 
feem to have been but obfcurely calculated for diftindt 
vifion, and are probably like thofe of moles, and fome 
other animals of that tribe; or perhaps even fub- 
cutaneous; the whole apparent diameter of the cavity in 
which they were placed not extending the tenth of an 
inch. When we confider the general form of this animal, 
and particularly its bill and webbed feet, we fliall readily 
perceive that it muft be a refident in watery fituations ; that 
it has the habits of digging or burrowing in the banks of 
rivers, or under ground; and that its food confifts of 
aquatic plants and animals. This is all that can at 
prefent be reafonably gueffed at: future obfervations, 
made in its native regions, will, it is hoped, afford us 
more ample information, and will make us fully ac¬ 
quainted with the natural hiftory of an animal which 
differs fo widely from all other quadrupeds, and which 
verifies, in a molt ftriking manner, the obfervations of 
Buffon, viz. that whatever was poffible for nature to 
produce, has actually been produced.” Gen. Zool. 
vol. i. 
A correct reprefentation of this curious animal is 
given on the Plate, at fig. 3. Subfequent enquiries, and 
examinations of more perfect fpecimens, have, as might 
be expelled, made the internal parts better known. Sir 
Everard Home gave an accurate defcription of the head 
in the Phil. Tranf. for 1800. “Finding that Profeffor 
Blumenbach has been led to believe that it was an animal 
without teeth, an opinion which muft have arifen from 
the imperfeft (late of the fpecimen he examined, it ap¬ 
peared highly proper to do away the miftake, and lay 
before the Royal Society fuch obfervations refpefting the 
head of this extraordinary animal, as I have been enabled 
to make. The beak, when curforily examined, appears 
fo ftrongly to refemble that of the duck, as to lead to the 
belief of its being calculated for exadlly the fame pur- 
pofes ; it will however be found to differ materially from 
it, in a variety of circumftances. The beak is found, on 
examination, not to be the animal’s mouth, but a part 
added to the mouth, and proje< 5 ling beyond if. The 
cavity of the mouth is fituated as in other quadrupeds, 
and has two grinding teeth on each fide, both in the 
upper and lower jaw ; but, inftead of incifor teeth, the 
nafal and palate bones are continued forwards, length¬ 
ening the anterior noftrils, and forming the upper part of 
the beak; and the two portions of the lower jaw, inftead 
of terminating at the fymphyfis, where they join, become 
two thin plates, and are continued forwards, forming the 
under portion of the beak. This ftrufture differs ma¬ 
terially from the bill of the duck, and indeed from the 
bills of all birds, fince in them, the cavities of the noftrils 
do not extend beyond the root of the bill; and, in their 
lower portions, which correfpond to the under jaw of 
quadrupeds, the edges are hard, to anfwer the purpofe of 
7 Z teeth, 
