THE TRUE ECHIDNA 24I 



Gardens. Mr, Waterhouse records that it rejected 

 the mealworms so readily eaten by many mammals. 

 Now even lemurs and squirrels to the writer's certain 

 knowledge will eat these ; an echidna which at home 

 lives on insect diet surely acted strangely in refusing 

 such fare. 



A male echidna from Queensland was acquired in 

 1898 by the Amsterdam Zoological Society, and has 

 been carefully studied by the present writer. 

 Asleep during the forenoon, this animal resisted 

 all the keeper's efforts to dislodge him from his 

 corner, holding on with great tenacity to the angles 

 of the cage. Even leverage with a stout pole 

 entirely failed to move the echidna.^ These animals 

 are said to be able unaided to move a weight of 

 3olbs; and after this practical demonstration of its 

 power of muscle one could well believe it. When 

 asleep the spines of each side converge towards the 

 middle line of the back, thus suggesting some large 

 thorny fruit. Echidnas, like armadillos, have a 

 curious trick of shivering, even in warm weather, 

 when asleep. On the writer's second visit in 1902 

 the keeper succeeded in rousing it for a few minutes, 

 when the animal waddled for a short distance on its 

 short stumpy legs and then rolled itself up again. It 

 was active in the late afternoon — half-past five — 

 toddling about the cage with a curious, swaying, 



1 Mr. C. Bennett mentions a captive echidna that used to wedge itself 

 almost immovably at the lx)ttoni of a cask. 



