242 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 
Echidna australis, Lesson, Hist. Nat. Mamm., vol. v., pl. ili. 
(1836). 
Echidna acanthion, Collett, Forhandl. Vid. Selsk. Christiana, 
1884, No. 13 (1885). 
(Plate XX XVIIL) 
VARIETY A.—PORT MORESBY ECHIDNA. 
Echidna (Tachyglossus) lawesi, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. New 
Ss) Wales; vol. i1.,-p.32 (1677). 
Tachyglossus lawesi, Dubois, Bull. Soc. Zool., vol. vi. p. 268 
(1881). 
VARIETY B.—HAIRY ECHIDNA. 
Echidna setosa, Geoff., Cat. Mus., p. 226 (1803). 
Echidna breviaculeata, Tiedemann, Zool., vol. i., p. 592 (1808). 
Tachyglossus setosus, Uliger, Prodromus Syst, Mamm., p. 114 
(2311): 
Echinopus setosus, G. Fischer, Zoogn., vol. iil., 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. 
Distribution.— 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.” 
