168 MAMMALIA. 
less remarkable; a sort of clavicle especially, which is common 
to both shoulders, placed before the ordinary clavicle, and 
analogous to the fourchette in birds. Finally, besides their five 
nails to each foot, the males have a spur on the hinder ones, 
perforated by a canal which transmits the liquid secreted by 
a gland situated on the inner surface of the thigh. It is 
asserted that the wounds it inflicts are envenomed. These 
animals have no external conch to their ears, and their eyes 
are very small. 
The Monotremata are only found in New Holland, and 
have been discovered since the settlement of the English. 
Two genera of them are known. 
Ecuipna, Cuv.—Tacuyexossus, Illig. 
The elongated slender muzzle of the Spiny Ant-Eaters, terminated 
by a small mouth, contains an extensible tongue similar to that of 
the Ant-Eaters and Pangolins, and like them, they feed on Ants. 
They have no teeth, but their palate is furnished with several rows 
of small recurved spines. Their short feet have each five very long 
and stout nails fitted for digging; and the upper surface of the 
body is covered with spines like that of the Hedgehog. It appears, 
that when in danger, they also possess the faculty of rolling them- 
selves into a ball. Their tail is very short; their stomach ample 
and almost globular, and their cecum moderate; the penis is ter- 
minated by four tubercles. There are two species. 
E. hystrix ; Ornithorhynchus hystrix, Home ; Myrmecophaga 
aculeata, Shaw. (The Spiny Echidna.) Completely covered 
with large spines. : 
E. setosa; Ornithor. setosus, Home. (The Bristly Echidna.) 
Is covered with hair, among which the spines are half hidden. 
Some naturalists consider it as a mere variety from age. 
OrniTHoRHYNCcHuS, Blumenb.—P.Latyrpus, Shaw. | 
* 
The elongated, and at the same time singularly enlarged and flat- 
tened muzzle of the Ornithorhynchi presents the closest external 
resemblance to the bill of a Duck, and the more so as its edges are 
among the numerous physicians who daily visit the colony of Port Jackson. Asto 
the anatomy of the Ornithorhynchus, see the detailed monography on that subject, 
published by M. Meckel, also the Memoirs of Sir Ey. Home, my Lessons of Com- 
parative Anatomy, Vol. V, and the Memoirs of M. Geoffroy St Hilaire, Mem. du 
Mus. tome XV. D 
