134 VERTEBRATE : MAMMALIA. 



imparting a dusky shade. It often lies motionless fur 

 hours in the warm sunshine. When captured, slightly 

 wounded, it has the habit of feigning itself dead. The 

 young, which at birth weigh only three or four grains, are 

 placed in the pouch, where they remain growing very 

 rapidly till four or five weeks old, when they begin to 

 venture forth, but for a long time keep close to the 

 mother, often clinging to her by their tails. 



SUB-SECTION XV. 



^ 



THE ORDER OF MONOTREMATA OR DUCKBILLS. 



As stated in regard to the Marsupials, so it may be 

 stated in regard to this order, that its members differ so 

 widely from the typical mammals that they are not only 

 regarded as a distinct order, but also as representatives of 

 a distinct sub-class, as seen on page 67. 



Monotremes are few in species, and belong to Australia 

 and adjacent regions, and in some important respects their 

 structure is much like that of Birds. Indeed, even their 

 external structure at once suggests some likeness to that 

 class of the animal kingdom. And like the Birds the 

 Monotremes have only one passage for voiding the waste 

 ot the body. They are small animals, less than two feet 

 in length, and are destitute of true teeth. The name Mo- 

 notremata is derived from monos, one, trema, a pore. 



They appear under two well-marked forms, although 

 there are only a very few species. The Spiny Anteater 

 (Echidna) is the representative of one form, which is covered 

 with spines and has a long slender muzzle and an exten- 

 sible tongue. It belongs to the family of Tachyglossidae. 



