BY GEKAKD KKEFFT. 23 



6. The act of suckling. 



7. The period during which the young requires the lacteal 



nourishment, and the age at which the animal attains 



its fall size." 



Knowing that many gentlemen in the country take great 

 interest in Natural History, and have frequent opportunities of 

 observing the Ornithorliynchus, I beg to draw their attention to 

 the questions yet to be solved. 



24. ECHIDNA HYSTRIX. 

 The Spiny Echidna. 



This singular animal, of which I have seen two preserved 

 skins at Mount Hope, is almost less known than the Platypus. 

 Its geographical range does not extend far into the flat country, 

 and it is generally found in mountain ranges among rocks and 

 stones ; a shepherd at Mount Hope assured me that the animals 

 which he had preserved were captured at the mount ; the natives 

 further down the river did not appear to be aware of the existence 

 of such an animal as the Echidna ; their food is said to consist 

 principally of ants and their eggs, though I have kept many in cap- 

 tivity and offered them the food mentioned, but without success. 

 Upon hen-eggs they subsist for some time ; they also like bread 

 and milk, but seldom live longer than two or three months in 

 captivity. I have reason to believe that, strange as it may appear, 

 the Echidna lives upon grass also, as I have examined several 

 which had the intestines full of digested grass or herbs. 



Of the generation of this species nothing is as yet known, nor 

 have I ever seen a very young Echidna, none at least less than 

 six or eight inches long. 



REPTILIA. 



To investigate the Reptilian fauna of a country, a longer 

 stay than six months is necessary, and the species which I am 

 going to enumerate must be considered as but a small portion 

 of the reptiles inhabiting those districts. The country consists of 

 large plains without a stone npon them, studded with salt-bush, 



