50 GUIDE TO THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



Platypus; specimens are to be seen in case 10. Bones of a very 

 large fossil species of Echidna have been found in the Wellington 

 caves. 



Ornithorliynchus paradoxus ; the Platypus. This has a 

 bill like a duck and webbed feet for swimming, the 

 fore feet also have claws for burrowing. It has short 

 velvety fur ; it lives in the water and makes its nest in 

 holes in the bank ; it feeds on larvae, and minute aquatic 

 animals which it finds in the water and in the mud ; it has 

 8 horny teeth ; it grows to about 18 inches in length. 



TachyglosSUS aculeatus ; the Australian Porcupine, or 

 Echidna. This is about the size of the Platypus, which 

 also it resembles in most of its internal structure, but is 

 covered with spines like a porcupine on the back, with 

 coarse hair intermixed. It is not a water animal, but 

 lives on land and feeds on insects. It has a long snout, 

 with a small opening for the mouth, and a round slender 

 sticky tongue with which it secures its food. The feet 

 have very strong claws, by which the animal can bury 

 itself in the ground very quickly. It has been known 

 to penetrate two feet of loose garden soil in two or 

 three minutes. There is a spine on the hind legs of the 

 male connected with a gland. From this the name Echidna 

 (Greek, a viper) is derived, as it was erroneously supposed 

 to be poisonous. Other species are : — 



T. setosa ; Tasmania. This species has shorter spines and 

 more hair than the others. 



T. lawesii ; New Guinea. 



AcanthoglosSUS bruyni ; New Guinea. Casts of the skull 

 and lower jaw of this species are to be seen in the Museum 



Other orders— PLACENTALS.— Although Australia is the 

 home of the Marsupials and Monotremes, other orders are not 

 altogether unrepresented. There are no Monkeys, and few large 

 Carnivora ; the hoofed animals, as the Horse, Rhinoceros, Deer, 

 ttc, are w-anting, as are also the Edentata, or toothless animals. 

 The following are, however, represented : — 



