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THE FIVE-CLAWED ECHIDNAS. 241 
bills, being exclusively terrestrial, although fossorial, and sub- 
sisting solely on ants, which are licked up by the long extensile 
tongue, after the manner of the Banded Marsupial Anteater, 
The total loss of the teeth in the Ichidnas, in which not even 
rudiments of these organs have hitherto been detected, sug- 
gests that they have been Ant-eaters for a longer period of time 
than has the Marsupial Ant-eater. As regards their breeding 
habits, the Echidnas differ from the Duck-bills in that the 
females carry their eggs—generally two in number—in the 
pouch, where they are hatched out by the heat of the body. 
THE FIVE-CLAWED ECHIDNAS. GENUS ECHIDNA., 
Echidna, Cuvier, Tabl. Element., P- 143 (1798). 
Form stout and depressed ; limbs with five toes, all furnished 
with claws, those of the fore feet being broad, slightly curved, 
and directed forwards, while on the hind feet they are more 
slender, and curved outwards, the second, or second and third, 
being elongated and considerably exceeding the fourth and 
fifth in length, while on the first toe, or hallux, the claw is 
short, blunt, and rounded. Beak about equal in length to the 
Test of the remainder of the head, and either straight or 
slightly curved upwards. Tongue tapering at the tip, with its 
spines restricted to its basal portion. 
I. COMMON ECHIDNA. ECHIDNA ACULEATA. 
Myrmecophaga aculeata, Shaw, Natur. Miscell., vol. iii., pl. cix. 
(1792). | 
Ornithorhynchus hystrix, Home, Phil. Trans., 1802, p. 348. 
Lichidna hystrix, Geoff., Cat. Mus., pe 224 (1823). 
Lachysglossus aculeatus, Wiger, Prodromus Syst. Mamm., p. 114 
(1811). 
Lchidna aculeata, Garnot, N. Bull, Soc. Philom., 1825, p. 45 
(1825); Thomas, Cat. Marsup. and Monotr. Brit. Mus., 
P- 377 (1888). 
2 R 
Pe. 
