THE TRUE ECHIDNA 243 



echidna was presented to the collection in 1900, two 

 others in 1901, and three others in 1902. This 

 abundance of material contrasts sharply with the rarity 

 of the animal in European vivaria. Echidnas not 

 only become tame, but will even allow themselves to 

 be carried about. From their thorny panoply, 

 however, they are rather undesirable burdens. 



And so is written the description, manners, and 

 history of the quaint echidna, the most remarkable 

 product of that most remarkable land of topsyturvy- 

 dom — Australia, Fitly indeed does it inhabit the 

 continent which produces a stingless bee, a mammal 

 with a duck's bill, and a mole with the pouch of a 

 dasyure ; where the kingfishers live on rats and 

 lizards; where the "bush pheasants" are cuckoos, and 

 where the boobook owl conversely mimics the 

 harbinger of Spring, A host of strange animals from 

 the tarsier downwards have been treated of in these 

 pages — bat and hunting-dog, antelope and tapir, 

 squirrel and thylacine. Each and all have their 

 special interest, their external characters, even 

 their mental attributes, feeble though they be 

 in some : the studies which this final Essay 

 terminates will, it is hoped, stimulate and enlarge 

 the reader's interest in the vast field of Nature 

 which lies all about him. Finis coronal opus. It 

 but remains to borrow some fitting term of farewell 

 salutation. 



To all unto whom these presents shall come, 

 greeting. 



