240 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY, 
levis, 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, 
fuscus of Péron and Lesueur, and the QO. crispus of Maegilli- 
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 ECHIDNIDA, 
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- 
