ECHIDNA. 3 
References.—Thomas, B. M. Catal. p. 388; Gould, Mamm. 
Austr. i. pl. i. 
Famly I1.—ECHIDNID. 
Muzzle in the shape of a slender cylindrical beak. Tongue 
extensile. Fur mixed with stout spines. Tailrudimentary. Toes 
not webbed. Palms and soles forming broad, fleshy cushions, 
without distinct pads. Teeth wholly absent, without functional 
successors. Palate and tongue spinous. Cerebral hemispheres 
convoluted. 
Genus I.—ECHIDNA, G@. Cuvier (1798). 
Form stout and depressed. Toes 55, all clawed, those on the 
fore feet broad, but little curved, and directed forwards ; on the 
hind feet slenderer, curved outwards, the second, or second and 
third, very long, much exceeding the fourth and fifth; that of 
hallux short, blunt, and rounded. Beak straight or with a slight 
upward curve. Tongue tapering at the tip, the spines restricted 
to the basal portion. 
Vertebree.—C. 7, D. 16, L. 3, 8. 3, Cd. 12=41. 
Habits.—Terrestrial ; fossorial ; feeding chiefly on ants and 
their eggs. 
Note.—In 1868 Mr. Gerard Krefft described (Ann. Nat. Hist. 
(4) i. p. 113) from a fragment of a humerus a fossil species from 
New South Wales, for which he proposed the name Lchidna oweni; 
subsequently numerous examples were obtained from the Welling- 
ton Caves, N.S.W., and were separated from the original species 
by Prof. Owen under the name of #. ramsayi. Paleontologists 
now, however, seem to be agreed that the two forms are identical. 
1. Ecurpna acuLeata, Shaw, sp. (1792). 
Common Echidna; Native Porcupine. 
Sexes not markedly differing in size. General color of hair 
above black or dark brown; below brown. Spines of back long 
and stout, generally quite hiding the hair, their color normally 
yellow with a black tip. Tail short and conical, terminally naked. 
Several different species of Echidna have been described, but 
recent researches tend to prove that these are at best but geo- 
graphical races. The Port Moresby variety (2. lawesi, Ramsay) 
the type of which is in the Australian Museum, Sydney, differs 
in its smaller size and shorter dorsal spines; the Tasmanian 
variety (H. setosa, E. Geoffroy) in its larger size, longer hair 
which almost conceals the spines, and the much longer third claw 
of the hind feet, which almost equals the second claw. 
