Animals: Duckbill Robe

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Odd things amuse the Australians. One was a comedian named George K. Fortescue. A massive man, he paced the boards in an opéra bouffe of the 90s wearing a gargantuan pink ballet skirt edged with pompons, roaring out feminine lines in full bass. So thoroughly did he delight the fun-loving citizens of Sydney, they gave him an indigenous and characteristic present: a robe made from 80 pelts of the weird duckbill, or platypus. There seems to have been none like it before or since.

Though still to be found in its exclusively Australian habitat, the duckbill is nonextant as a foreign captive. In 1922, after spending nine years and $1,400, New York Zoological Park's deliberate William Reid Blair carried to The Bronx the only live platypus ever to leave Australia. It. tried for 49 days to adapt itself to an elaborate man-made labyrinth. Then it died, was stuffed and taken to the Newark. N. J. museum.

Zoologically, the duckbill is most remarkable as a link between species. It is a mammal and suckles its young—from secreting pores, not teats. But as do birds, it lays eggs. Like fish and turtle, it feeds on water-life. Like the mole, it burrows under ground. Like the duck, it has a broad bill and webbed feet. Like some snakes, it carries venom (male only, in a spur on its hind leg). And it has a beaver-like tail which makes it seem double-ended. Its fur is coarse, runs in color from dark brown to silver grey. No woman would choose it for its beauty or usefu1ness.

George Fortescue rolled up his platypus robe, slipped it into a trunk, carried it on his travels until his death in 1914. It then went to his daughter Viola, who paid even less attention to it than he had. Recently, friends urged her to find out its worth. She took it to Revillon Fréres, smart Manhattan furriers, who this week began exhibiting the piece for Fifth Avenue window-gazers. Unofficial appraisal: intrinsic value—under $10; possible rarity value—$10,000.