Xect. II.] 



THE DUCKBILLED PLATYPUS. 



25 



LECTURE II. 



Peototheria (Monotremata). 



The lowest, or teatless mammals, still linger in the 

 Australian region, in the form of the spiny Ant-eater, 

 or Echidna, and the great AVater-Mole [PlatiJims, or 

 Ornithorliynchus). A few fossils have been found in 

 this same region, and described by Sir Richard Owen as 



^4® 



Fig. 2. — Young of Ornithorhynchus parculoxus, one half the 

 natural size. 



belonging to a larger species of Echidna than any of 

 the three known existing kinds. 



But in the northern world (Afxtogcea) no remains of 

 any kind of Monotreme — Ditckhill, or Echidna — have 

 rewarded the labour of the palaeontologist. Yet fossil 

 marsupials have long been known in this hemisphere ; 

 iilthough, as Professor 0. C. Marsh suggests, Microlestes 

 the oldest of these — the jaws of which are found at 



