﻿242 ' Allen's naturalist's library. 



Echidna australis^ Lesson, Hist. Nat. Mamm., vol. v., pi, iii. 



(1836). 

 Echidna acanthion, Collett, Forhandl. Vid. Selsk. Christiana, 



1884, No. 13 (1885). 



{Plate XXXVIII.) 

 VARIETY A. — PORT MORESBY ECHIDNA. 



Echidna {Tachyglossus) lazvesi, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. New 



S. Wales, vol. ii., p. 32 (1877). 

 Tachyglossus latvesi, Dubois, Bull. Soc. Zool., vol. vi., p. 268 



(1881). 



VARIETY B. HAIRY ECHIDNA. 



Echidna setosa, Geoff., Cat. Mus., p. 226 (1803). 



Echidna breviacukata, Tiedemann, Zool., vol. i,, p. 592 (1S08). 



Tachyglossus setosus, Illiger, Prodromus Syst. Mamm., p. 114 



(181T). 



Echinopus sefos2is, G. Fischer, Zoogn., vol. iii., p. 694 (1814). 



Characters. — General colour of hair black or dark brown ; 

 under-parts brown ; spines of back long and stout, generally 

 completely concealing the fur, and usually yellow with black 

 tips ; tail short and conical, with the extremity naked. Length 

 of head and body varying from about 14 to 20 inches. 



DistrilDution. — From South-Eastern New Guinea, throughout 

 Australia, to Tasmania. 



Varieties. — Writing of the different local races of this exceed- 

 ingly variable and widely-spread Echidna, Mr. Thomas ob- 

 serves that although several so-called species have been founded, 

 and " although the range of variation is very large, yet all the 

 intermediate stages appear to exist between the most widely 

 separated forms. Three geographical races, however, seem to 

 deserve recognition by name — a northern, central, and southern; 

 but these distinguishing characters are too slight and too in- 

 constant to justify their specific distinction." 



