NOTES ON SOME AUSTRALIAN MAMMALS, Spill 
Notes on Some Australian Mammals. 
By R. Broom, M.D., B.Sc., Taralga, New South Wales. 
[Read 4th August, 1896.] 
Echidna aculeata (Shaw). 
In the warmer parts of Australia the breeding season of the 
Echidna seems to be June, July, or August. In the Taralga 
district, which may be taken as typical of the Blue Mountains, 
the period would appear to be later. In a specimen I had an 
opportunity of studying (the details of which I have elsewhere 
recorded*), copulation took place on 4th September, and two eggs 
were laid on Ist and 2nd October, gestation thus being about 
twenty-eight days. On 23rd March of this year, a young Echidna 
was brought to me, which, when rolled up, was about the size of 
the two fists closed together, and measured nine inches along the 
dorsal curve, over the spines, from snout to tail. It was almost 
certainly an animal of the previous season, and would probably be 
about six months old. In October, 1894, I got a specimen about 
two-thirds grown, measuring along the dorsal curve seventeen 
inches, Judging from the size of the six-months specimen and the 
rate of growth, this one had probably been born in the previous 
October, and would thus be a year old. If these assumptions be 
correct, it is probable that the Echidna takes two years to arrive 
at sexual maturity. ; 
Phascolomys mitchelli, Owen. 
This Wombat is very common in suitable situations in the 
wilder parts of the Blue Mountains, between the Wombeyan Caves 
and Mount Werong. On 13th October, 1895, a young one was 
brought to me from the latter place, measuring about fourteen 
EE eee eS 
* “Note on the Period of Gestation in Echidna,” Proc. Linn. Soe, 
N.S. W., 1895, 
