EXTERNAL CHAEACTERS. 259 



ciently known, so that although doubtless enough to entitle it to separate rank 

 I am unable here to give them in detail. 



I would recognize but one living form of Proeehidna and one fossil, with 

 the following synonymy. 



Zaglossus bruijnii bruijnii (Peters and Doria). 



Tachyglossus hrmjnii Peters and Doria, Ann. Mus. civ. storia nat. Geneva, 1876, 9, p. 183. 



Zaglossus bruijnii Gill, Ann. rec. sci. and industry, 1877, p. clxxi. 



Acanthoglossus bruijnii Gervais, Conipt. rend. Acad. sci. Paris, 1877, p. 837. 



Proeehidna bruijnii Gervais, 0.st6ogr. dcs monotremes, 1877 '78, fasc. 1, p. 43. 



Bruynia tridactyla Dubois, Bull. Soc. zool. de France, 1881, 6, p. 266. 



Bruijnia bruijnii Thomas, Zool. record, 1882, 19, Mammalia, p. 40. 



Echidna (Aeanthoglossus) bruijnii Murie, Journ. Linn. soc. London, 1879, 14, p. 413. 



Eehidna bruijnii Flower and Garson, Cat. Mus. roy. coll. .surgeons, pt. 2, 1884, p. 753. 



Proeehidna villosissima Dubois, Bull. Mus. roy. hist. nat. Belg., 1884, 3, p. 110. 



Proeehidna nigroaculeata Rothschild, Proc. Zool. soc. London, 1892, p. 545. 



Zaglossus bruijnii villosissima Rothschild, Novitates zoologicae, 1905, 12, p. 305. 



Zaglossus bruijnii nigroaeuleala Rothschild, No\'itates zoologicae, 1905, 12, p. 305. 



Proeehidna nomeguineae and Proeehidna leucoeephalus Rothschild, Proc. Zool. soc. London, 1892, 



p. 546 {nomina nuda, quoted from a dealer's catalogue). 

 Acanthoglossus bruijnii bartoni Thomas, Ann. mag. nat. hist., 1907, ser. 7, 20, p. 293. 

 Acanthoglossus goodfellowi Thomas, Ann. mag. nat. hist., 1907, ser. 7, 20, p. 498. 



Habitat : Papua. 



t Zaglossus oweni (Krefft). 



Echidna owenii Krefft, Ann. mag. nat. hist., 1868, ser. 4, 1, p. 114. 

 Eehidna ramsayi Owen, Phil, trans. Roy. soc. London, 1884, 175, p. 273. 



Extinct: Australia, New South Wales; remains in Wellington bone and 

 breccia caves. 



Attention may be called at this point to the studies of Toldt (1905, 1906) 

 on the hair and spines of the Proeehidna. He points out what may fairly be 

 considered a generic difference in the character of the spines of the Proeehidna 

 as compared with the Echidna. For while in the latter they are thin-walled, 

 with a relatively large lumen and long tapering point, in the Proeehidna thej' 

 are blunter and much more solid, with a very small central lumen. Toldt shows 

 that a Ught-colored spine may have a concealed layer of dark pigment near its 

 core; other spines are without pigment, and others again appear dark-pigmented. 

 This, however, is a matter of individual variation for both Ught and dark spines 

 may occur in the same animal or one or the other sort may predominate. The 

 color of the spines, on which Rothschild seems mainly to ha\'e based his race 

 nigroaculeata, can therefore have no systematic significance in this case. Toldt, 

 however, prefers to consider his dark-spined individual nigroaculeata. The 

 transition from hairs to various forms of spines is well brought out by this 



