12 INTRODUCTION. 



Commencing with the most lowly organized of the Australian 

 mammals, I may state that the Ornithorhjnckus has a very 

 limited range, as is shown by its not being found either in 

 AVestern or Northern Australia — the south-eastern portions of 

 the continent and Van Diemcn'a Land being the localities to 

 wiiich it is confined. 



The spiny Echidna hystrix has not yet been found to the 

 northward of Morcton Bay on the east coast, and, except in New 

 South Wales and the islands in Bass's Straits, it is very rare — 

 so rare indeed, that I have never seen a specimen from South 

 Australia; yet in all probability it will be found there, since 

 Mr, Gilbert obtained an example at Swan Iliver; this individual, 

 however, did not come under my notice, and I am therefore 

 unable to say if it were a true E. hystrix, or a western repre- 

 sentative of that species. 



IMie more hairy Echidna sctosa is confined to Van Diemen's 

 Lund ; but it is questionable whether it be really distinct from 

 E. hystrix ; the more southern position and colder clinuite of 

 that island may have had the effect of giving it a warmer coat, 

 whiter spines, and of altering its general a])pearance. 



The single species representing the genus Myrmccohius 

 {M. fasciatus) appears to be more plentiful in the Swan River 

 Settlement than elsewhere ; it nevertheless occurs in the Murray 

 Scrub and other parts of South Australia, and from thence to 

 the western coast it probably inhabits every locality suited to its 

 habits and mode of life. 



Like the Myrmecubius, the little honey-lapping Tarsipes ros- 

 tratus stands quite alone — and a truly singular creature it is : to 

 give the area over which it ranges is impossible, as we know far 

 too little of these diminutive mammals to come to any positive 

 conclusion on this point ; at present, the neighbourhood of King 

 George's Sound is one of the localities in which- it has been seen 

 in a state of nature. 



Isolated in form and differing in the str\u;ture of ils feet from 

 every other known quaib'iiped is the ('hwropus, an animal which 



