Mr. E. P. Earasay on the Egg o/'Ecbidna hjstrix. 479 



XLVI. — Descrij)tton of the Marsupial Egg o/" Echidna 

 Lystrix. By Edward P. Ramsay, Esq., F'.L.'S., C.M.Z.S. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Matured History. 



Gentlemen, — 



Since the publication in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 No. 84, December 1884, of the " Description of an Impreg- 

 nated Uterns and of the Uterine Ova of Echidna hystrioc^'' 

 I have been favoured with a letter, dated " Australian 

 Museum, Sydney, September 14th, 1885," from my valued 

 correspondent Edward P. Ramsay, Esq., F.L.S., Curator of 

 that museum, with the following result of his researches on 

 the same physiological subject. 



Sheen Lodge, Eiclimond Park. RiCHARD OwEN. 



*' To-day [I presume the date of his letter] I got another 

 fine female Echidna : I now have four. On examining her 

 pouch I found therein an egg, white in colour and about half 

 an inch in length, having a rather tough skin, with, I fancy, 

 very little lime in it, and very like that of a reptile. It is 

 oval, equally rounded at either end. The beast showed great 

 resentment at being examined, and, being a very prickly 

 subject, I had not much time to examine the &gg, as I was 

 afraid of breaking it. The pouch was much warmer than the 

 body of Echidnas generally. I was much surprised at the 

 warmth when I put my fingers in. To-morrow I will take 

 the temperature, and I think I will leave her to hatch out the 

 young. I felt at first inclined to make a preparation of her 

 and put her in spirits. The pouch entirely disappears, or, 

 rather, does not appear at all, until the parent is about to lay 

 her ^^^^. I wish I could send her on to you just as she is. 

 On placing her in a cask of sand she at once burrowed out 

 of sight, covering herself with sand to a depth of 4 inches. 



" The other specimens which I have also burrow and hide 

 themselves in comparatively stiff soil. They go often down 

 4 to 5 feet in the night-time. We dig them out every second 

 day or so, when we find they have gone too far. 



" I hope to be able to make some observations on the length 

 of time in hatching. Other females which I have have no 

 eggs in the pouch. They feed freely on fresh milk, sweetened 

 with a little sugar, and some bread-crumbs added. Some 

 become tame very soon, and come readily for their milk j 

 others will not drink except when one is out of sight." 



(A description of the mammary pouches and mammary 

 foetus is given in the ' Philosophical Transactions ' for 1865, 

 pp. 671-686, pis. xxxix.-xli.) 



