THE 
DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS. 
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Generic Character. 
Mouth fhaped like the bill of a Duck. 
Feet webbed, 
The animal exhibited on the prefent plate confti- 
tutes a new and Angular genus, which, in the Lin- 
nasan arrangement of Quadrupeds, Ihould be placed 
in the order Bruta, and fhould ftand next to the ge¬ 
nus Myrmecophaga. 
Of all the Mammalia yet known it feems the moll 
extraordinary in its conformation; exhibiting the 
perfedt refemblance of the beak of a Duck engrafted 
on the head of a quadruped. So accurate is the fi- 
militude that, at firft view, it naturally excites the 
idea of fome deceptive preparation by artificial 
means: the very epidermis, proportion, ferratures, 
manner of opening, and other particulars of the 
beak of a fhoveler, or other broad-billed fpecies of 
duck, prefenting themfelves to the view: nor is it 
without the moll minute and rigid examination that 
we can perfuade ourfelves of its being the real beak 
or fnout of a quadruped. 
The body is depreffed, and has fome refemblance 
to that of an Otter in miniature : it is covered with 
a very 
