256 



TEMPERATURE OF ECHIDNA ACULEATA, 



Table v. 

 Relation of temptrature of Echidna to temperature of air. 



Date. 



18/5/14 



30/6/14 



2/7 1 H 

 14/10/14 



9/11/14 



Temperature of air 

 Morning Afternoon 



Temperature of air 

 Morniuff Afternoon 



As will be seen from the above Table, there were only two 

 occasions on which a reversal of the direction of change of the 

 temperature of the air was accompanied by a similar reversal in 

 the direction of variation of an animal's temperature, and, on 

 each of these occasions, this reversal was shown only by one of 

 two animals under observation. 



In addition to these cases in which the temperature of the air 

 fell, instead of rising, between morning- and afternoon-observa- 

 tions, there were many occasions on which the rise of the temper- 

 ature of the air was less than that of the temperature of the 

 animals. Further, there were four occasions on which, although 

 the temperature of the air rose between morning and afternoon, 

 that of an animal fell in the same interval of time; and these do 

 not include those cases where erratic behaviour of the temper- 

 ature of an animal was due either to the onset or to the close of 

 a period of hibernation. 



From the above facts, therefore, it seems that the daily varia- 

 tion of the temperature of Echidna does not entirely depend 

 upon that of the temperature of the air, but is, in part, of the 

 same nature as the daily variation observed in the case of other 

 mammals (of man in particular), which is regarded as quite in- 

 dependent of the variations of the temperature of the air, and 

 which, as in the case of Echidna, consists of an increase, though 

 a much smaller one, between morning and afternoon. The mag- 



