ECHIDNA. 6 



References. Thomas, B.M. Catal. p. 388 ; Gould, Mamm. 

 Austr. i. pi. i. 



Family II. ECHIDNID^. 



Muzzle in the shape of a slender cylindrical beak. Tongue 

 extensile. Fur mixed with stout spines. Tail rudimentary. Toes 

 not webbed. Palms and soles forming broad, fleshy cushions, 

 without distinct pads. Teeth wholly absent, without functional 

 successors. Palate and tongue spinous. Cerebral hemispheres 

 convoluted. 



Genus I. ECHIDNA, G. Cuvier (1798). 



Form stout and depressed. Toes 5 5, all clawed, those on the 

 fore feet broad, but little curved, and directed forwards ; on the 

 hind feet slenderer, curved outwards, the second, or second and 

 third, very long, much exceeding the fourth and fifth ; that of 

 hallux short, blunt and rounded. Beak straight or with a slight 

 upward curve. Tongue tapering at the tip, the spines restricted 

 to the basal portion. 



Vertebra}. C. 7, D. 16, L. 3, S. 3, Cd. 12 = 41. 



Habits. Terrestrial ; fossorial ; feeding chiefly on ants and 

 their eggs. 



Note.I\\ 1868 Mr. Gerard Krefft described (Ann. Nat. Hist. 

 (4) i. p. 113) from a fragment of a humerus a fossil species from 

 New South Wales for which he proposed the name Echidna oweni ; 

 subsequently numerous examples were obtained from the Welling- 

 ton Caves, N.S.W., and were separated from the original species 

 by Prof. Owen under the name of E. ramsayi. Palaeontologists 

 now, however, seem to be agreed that the two forms are identical. 



1. ECHIDNA ACULEATA, Shaw, sp. (1792). 

 Common Echidna ; Native Porcupine. 



Sexes not markedly differing in size. General color of hair 

 above black or dark brown ; below brown. Spines of back long 

 and stout, generally quite hiding the hair, their color normally 

 yellow wibh a black tip. Tail short and conical, terminally naked. 



Several different species of Echidna have been described, but 

 recent researches tend to prove that these are at best but geo- 

 graphical races. The Port Moresby variety (E. lawesi, Ramsay) 

 the type of which is in the Australian Museum, Sydney, differs 

 in its smaller size and shorter dorsal spines ; the Tasmanian 

 variety (E. setosa, E. Geoffroy) in its larger size, longer hair 

 which almost conceals the spines, and the much longer third claw 

 of the hind feet, which almost equals the second claw. 



