Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS.
This curious egg-laying mammal, the only representative of its family, is mainly nocturnal in habits.
The fur of the platypus, dressed so as to remove the outer and longer series of hairs, nearly resembles that of the fur-seal in both colour and texture, and as a rare local product is highly prized for the manufacture of carriage-rugs and other articles.
With the egg-laying Echidna and Platypus we terminate the Mammalian Series, and they pave the way to the typical egg-laying animals which follow.
End of Vol. I.
Note
Since this was in type, Sir Harry Johnston has reported the existence in the Congo forest, on the borders of Uganda, of a large unknown type of ruminant, the Akapi of the natives.