MAMMALIA. 611 



Mammif. PI. 75, fig. 2. PEBON admits two species: Ornithorhynchus rufus 

 and Ornith. fuscus, Voyage de decouv., Ail. PL xxxiv. (these figures are 

 badly coloured). In my youth I undertook the defence of this opinion and 

 gave figures from stuffed specimens, Nov. Act. Acad. Cces. Leop. Carol, xi. 

 2, 1823, pp. 351 372, Tab. 47; I now attach no importance to them, 

 since the unanimous opinion of travellers is against it. Some individuals 

 are more ruddy-brown ; others, especially the larger, are dark-brown on 

 the back ; the under surface is grey. 



Compare on the anatomy HOME Philos. Trans., 1802, pp. 6784, PI. 

 2 4, 1819, pp. 234 241 (also in his Lectures on comp. Anal.), the class- 

 ical work of J. F. MECKEL Ornithorhynchi paradoxi descriptio anatomica, 

 Lipsiae, 1826 fol., OWEN Phil. Trans. 1822, P. 2, pp. 517 538, 1834, P. 

 2, pp. 555 566, &c. and in TODD'S Cyclop. Article Monotremata, in. pp. 

 366 407. The young animal is described and figured by him in Trans, of 

 the Zool. Soc. Vol. i. 3, 1835, pp. -221 228. On the mode of life and the 

 economy BENNETT has given an interesting paper, ibid. pp. 229 258. See 

 also the observations of VERBEAUX, Revue Zoolog. 1848, pp. 127 134, 

 which for the most part correspond with those of BENNETT. 



SECTION II. Orygopoda s. Tachyglossa. 

 Feet fossorial, not palmate. 



Tachyglossus ILLIG., Echidna Cuv. 1 (Spec, of Ornithorhynchus 

 HOME.) Teeth none. Snout subulate, somewhat depressed, with 

 gape of mouth at the apex small. Tongue round, long, exsertile. 

 Body covered with hairs and spines. Claws large, the second and 

 third of hind feet very long, falciform. Tail very short, truncate at 

 the apex. 



Sp. Tachyglossus aculeatus ILLIG., SCHBEB. n. Tab. 63 B., Myrmecophaga 

 aculeata SHAW Natur. Miscellany, Vol. in. PL 109, Ornithorhynchus Hys- 

 trix HOME Philos. Trans. 1802, PL 10, WATEBHOUSE Mamm. i. p. 41; 

 New Holland. Tachyglossus setosus, Echidna, setosa Cuv., Echidna brevia- 

 culeata TiEDEM., HOME 1. 1. Tab. 63 c; Van Diemen's Land. (This species 

 or local variety has longer hairs and shorter spines on the back.) These 

 animals burrow under ground, live on ants and other insects, and are, even 

 more than the Ornithorhynchus, nocturnal animals. They attain a length of 

 fourteen to seventeen inches. Compare HOME 1. 1. A figure of the skeleton 

 is to be found in MECKEL'S Beitr. zur vergl. A not. i. 2, Tab. 9, in CDVIEB 

 Rech. s. les Ossem. foss. v. i, PL 13, and in PANDEB und D'ALTON Skelele 

 der zahnl. Thiere, Tab. 3. The brain is figured and described by LAUBENT 

 in GUEBIN Magas. deZool. 1838, 01. i, pp. 141 152, PL 30. The cerebrum 



1 Tableau element, 1798, p. 143; ZXJLOVO., the same as ?x tj > is a species of snake or 

 adder. I cannot suppose that CUVIEB had this in his mind, but rather e^os, hedge- 

 hog, as indeed his addition fourmilier epineux indicates. The name, therefore, to have 

 any meaning, must be modified. Hence Tachyglossus is to be preferred. 



392 



