653 
. Auch der »Advertiser« enthält heute Morgen folgendes Telegramm 
aus Sydney: 
» With reference to the cablegram recently published stating that 
the British Association at Montreal have received intelligence from 
Messrs. Caldwell and Liversedge, announcing important mamma- 
lian discoveries in Australia, it may be stated that Mr. Caldwell is 
a distinguished scientific investigator, and is at present engaged in 
Queensland conducting investigations into the relations between mam- 
mals and birds. Professor Liversedge of the Sydney University, 
recently cabled on behalf of Mr. Caldwell to the British Association 
at Montreal, to the effect that he had settled the question that the Pla- 
typus and Echidna, or hedgehog, are egg-producing, and not merely 
viviparous, as are ordinary mammals. In other words, they are more 
nearly related to birds and lizards and other egg-producing animals 
than to ordinary mammals.« 
Es kann mich nur freuen, daß meine Entieckung eine so uner- 
wartet schnelle Bestätigung erfahren hat. 
Adelaide, den 8. September 1884. 
4. Note on the presence of an allantoic (anterior abdominal) vein in 
Echidna. 
By F. E. Beddard, M.A. Prosector to the Zoological Society of London. 
eingeg. 13. November 1884. 
The dissection of a specimen of Echidna which recently died 
in the Zoological Society’s Gardens has brought to light an interesting 
fact in its structure which has not apparently been recorded in any 
Mammal!, that is the presence of an allantoic (anterior ab- 
dominal) vein arising from a capillary 'plexus on the 
bladder and passing forwards inclose contact with the 
abdominal wall of the body to the left lobe of the liver. 
The position origin and termination of this vessel is precisely that 
met with in the Amphibia and Reptilia save for the absence of any com- 
munication with the veins of the hind limbs; and there appears to be 
little doubt that this vein in Echidna is really homologous with the 
anterior abdominal vein of the lower Vertebrata. This is another 
among the many ancestral characters displayed in the organisation of the 
Monotremata; it is perhaps important to note that Echidna agrees with 
1 Balfour (Comparative Embryology Vol. 2, p. 541) says: »The venous system 
of ... mammals differs in two important points from that of Amphibia and Rep- 
tilia. Firstly the anterior abdominal vein is only a foetal vessel forming during 
foetal life the allantoic vein« etc. 
