﻿240 Allen's naturalist s library. 



lavis^ and brevirostris ; and I may further observe that the 

 specimen from which Dr. Shaw drew up his original account, 

 and which is now in the British Museum collection, presents a 

 similar condition of the fur, and is of small size. The O. 

 fiiscus of Peron and Lesueur, and the O. crispus of .Alaegilli- 

 vray, are large specimens, in which the fur is comparatively 

 crisp and of dull colouring." These conclusions are fully con- 

 firmed by Mr. Thomas in his Catalogue of the Marsupials and 

 Monotremes in the British Museum. 



THE ECHIDNAS. FAMILY ECHIDNID.^. 



The second family of the Monotremes is represented by the 

 Echidnas, Spiny Ant-eaters, or Porcupine-Ant-eaters, as they 

 are indifferently called, of which there are two or possibly three 

 species, arranged under two genera, one of which is common 

 to Australia, while the other is solely Papuan. The family may 

 be characterised as follows : 



Terrestrial and fossorial Monotremes, in which the sexes are 

 not markedly different in size, and the muzzle is in the form of 

 a long, slender, cylindrical, toothless beak, adapted for the pro- 

 tection of the long, worm-like, extensile tongue. Fur thickly 

 mingled with short, stout spines ; tail rudimentary ; limbs short 

 and subequal, with the toes unwebbed, and furnished with 

 stout and broad claws; soles of feet provided with soft, 

 fleshy cushions, but devoid of pads ; palate and tongue 

 spinous. Pouch well-developed during the breeding-season. 

 Hemispheres of the brain marked by numerous convolu- 

 tions. 



The skull is remarkable for its peculiarly smooth and bird- 

 like form ; the lower jaw being remarkably long and slender, 

 with the ascending, or coronoid process, as well as the posterior 

 .angle, rudimentary. 



In habits, the Echidnas differ markedly from the Duck- 



