374 



MAMMALIA 



are fed by milk exuding upon the hairs of the mother's abdomen. 

 The young are later protected by being concealed in a burrow. 

 The long-snouted Echidna {Praechidna) is found in New Guinea; 

 here under the name of the " Nodiak " it is eaten by the natives. 

 The duck-bill {Ornithorynchus {paradoxus) anatinus) (Figure 2ii) 

 is found in Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania. It has a small 

 rounded head, and a black horny bill. It crushes its food between 



Fig. 2IO. Echidna. (Courtesy of N. Y. Zool. Soc.) 



the ridged plates of its lower jaw and the roof of its mouth. Highly 

 developed glandular cheek pouches aid in digesting the food before 

 it reaches the small stomach.^ The body temperature of the duck- 

 mole, like that of Echidna, is but two to five degrees higher than the 

 surrounding medium. Its oviducts open separately into the cloaca, 

 but as in the birds the left ovary and oviduct alone are functional. 

 Aquatic, it digs burrows thirty feet into the banks of deep pools. 

 It builds a nest and deposits two eggs. When hatched, the young are 

 blind, hairless, with short beaks, but possessing teeth. The duck- 

 bill has no mammae and the milk oozes out through many fine 



* Consult H. Burrel. 1927. The Platypus. Angus and Robertson Ltd., Sydney, 

 Australia. 



