Chapter I: Preface

This book is the result of nearly twenty years’ personal observation of the platypus in its haunts, carried on while I was collecting specimens for the University of Sydney and the Commonwealth National Museum; but the limitations under which the work has had to be carried on, and the impossibility of obtaining official sanction to work as a private collector, have prevented me from exploring certain branches of the subject and have brought my field work practically to a standstill. Earlier observers, working without restraint, had opportunities of discovering details which I have been debarred from studying; nevertheless, I have not hesitated to criticize their observations where they differ from my own, and I have ventured to suggest several directions in which scientific investigators may proceed.

All my descriptions have been written from living specimens or from material freshly collected; museum specimens and records have been deliberately ignored. The illustrations also show living platypus, with the exception of a few photographs taken from fresh carcasses; and none of the photographs reproduced have been touched up in any way.

As the book is intended mainly for general readers, measurements have been given in inches where possible; but for scientific purposes it has sometimes been necessary to give them in millimetres. Roughly, 25 mm. equal 1 inch; therefore 3 mm. equal ⅛in., 12 mm. equal ½in., etc.

H.B.

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