DUCKBILL AND ECHIDNA. 



573 



in a mammary pouch, where the young hatch. The duck- 

 bill also lays large eggs. The embryonic development is 

 meroblastic, as in reptiles. The toothless jaws are long and 

 narrow in the Echidna, or broad and flat in the duckbill 

 (Ornithothynchus paradoxus Blnmenbach), where it is cov- 

 ered by a leathery integument; the external ear is wanting. 



62 



Fig. 494. Skeleton of Echidna hystnx.Vmm Brehm's Thierleben. 



In the aquatic duckbill the feet are webbed, with claws 

 of moderate size. It is covered with a soft fur, and is nbont 

 half a metre (17-22 inches) long. Its 

 habits are like those of a rnuskrat, fre- 

 quenting rivers and pools in Australia 

 and Van Dieman's Land, sleeping and 

 breeding in holes extending from un- 

 der the water up above its level into 

 the banks, and with an outlet on shore. 

 It lives on mollusks, worms, and 

 water-insects. Young duckbills, five 

 cm. long, have been found in their 

 nests. 



The spiny ant-eater (Figs. 493 and 

 494) is represented by three species, 

 the Echidna hystrix Cuvier, of Aus- 

 tralia, E. Lawesii Ramsay, from Port 

 Moresby, New Guinea, also by a re- 

 cently discovered form inhabiting the 

 elevated portions of Northern New marsupial bones. 

 Guinea, and called by Gervais Acantlioglossus Bruijnii. In 

 these singular animals the bill is long and slender, tooth- 



