A STAMP ZOO

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 58, 30 October 1931, Page 5

A STAMP ZOO

SYBNEY PHILATELIST HAS THE WORLD'S FREAK COLLECTION. I Lions and tigers and elephants and others "things give a rare distinction to the zoological stamp collection of Mr. J. Whitsed Dovey, of Sydney. Stamp collections are common enough, but philatelists claim that his is the only one of its kind in the world. His 8000 stamps are not grouped aecording to their countries, but in 151 zoological species, He has besides a large number of animals, reptiles, fish and birds that do not, and probably never did exist. One bird, on a German stamp, has baffled the experts of Sydney Museum and Taronga Park. It looks as though it ought to be something, but no one can make out what it is. Mr. Dovey has solved the riddle by calling it the "Thingmabob," and putting it in the unclassified section. Zoological Knowledge. But the hobby has taught him more than zoological subtlety — for in- ! stance, that there are people in Stellaland, in Central Africa, who dig fish out of the ground like potatoes. Mr. Dovey had this' stamp in his album, but could not understand why fish should be represented on the coat of arms of a country miles inland. On making inquiries he discovered that during the rainy season the local swamps hold a species of fish which burrow into the mud. Later, when the hot weather comes and dries the swamps, natives just dig the fish up. Nearly every animal is represented in the world's stamps, he says. For some time the cat was missing, but it now has a page to itself. It was found in the corner of a Spanish Lindberg eommemoration stamp. The philatelist, who is a student popular, since they figure in a numI ber of coats of arms. The philetalist, who is a student of biological evolution, has his albums arranged in scientific order, working from the lowest order of life to the primate mammals.