Ou a Collection of Mammals from Central and Northern Queensland, 939 



is not specifically separated from the Tasmanian E. setosa Cuv. 1817, 

 er from E. acanthion from Queensland, or from E. lawesi (Rams.) 

 1877, from New Guinea, but that all these „species" are connected 

 to each other by intermediate forms. 



„Echidna acanthion seems to me to be what I might call a 

 hyper-typical form of aculeafa, not worthy of a separate name, but ex- 

 ceedingly interesting as supplying the much needed intermediate link 

 between E. aculeata and E. lawesi''' (O. Thomas, 1. c. p. 336). 



As before mentioned, the Christiania University Museum possesses 

 almost no niaterial, by which this question can be decided. I am 

 therefore unable, fiom personal researches, to form any exact idea 

 concerning the correctness of Mr. Thomas' Suggestion, but I can hardly 

 doubt, that he has had good grounds for his opinion; and, in accor- 

 dance with this, I find that it is best to adopt his views, and there- 

 fore I class E. acanthion^ or the N. Australian form, as a synonym 

 with E. aculeata. 



In conclusiou I append the following abstract of my before men- 

 tioned treatise (in: Proc. Zoql. Soc. Lond. 1885, p. 157). 



The fullgrown specimens from C. Queensland were caught in Fe- 

 bruary and March, and thus the generative organs may be presumed 

 to have been in a dormant State. This, however, seems not to have 

 been the case in all ; and it is probable that they produce their young 

 at a different (earlier) season from the southern forms. 



Dr. L. informs me, that, according to the Statements of both the 

 white men and the natives, this species breeds in Queensland 

 in the winter time, as a rule in the month of May. One pair of 

 ovaries and one pair of mammae were preserved and brought home 

 by him. The first were taken from a fullgrown specimen (I) in the 

 beginning of March, and are considerably developed, although not 

 containing at the time mature eggs; the mammary glands, which were 

 (as far as Dr. L. remembers) taken from the same individual, were 

 on the other band large and swollen, and contained quantities of milk, 

 which profusely flowed out on a slight pressure. The mammary areola 

 is visible on the belly as a flattish spot. 



In a mounted full-grown male is present on each side of the belly 

 (where the mammary areola is found in the female) a small vortex 

 of hairs, apparently an indication of the rudimentary mammae of the 

 males of other mammals. 



The two ovaries and uteri, which were brought home, and which 

 I shortly described in the previously mentioned paper, have afterwards 



