ZAGLOSSUS. 
INTRODUCTION. 
SrnceE its discovery in 1876, specimens of the Long-beaked spiny anteater 
of New Guinea have been rare in collections. Hitherto the osteology of but a 
single specimen has been completely known, and of the anatomy of the soft 
parts practically nothing has been published. No less than five forms have been 
described, but the validity of most of these seems questionable, and even the 
genus itself is by some considered unworthy of recognition. 
The Museum has lately acquired seven specimens, four skins with skulls 
and three alcoholics, which together with a mounted skin purchased many years 
ago, and a mounted skeleton kindly loaned by the United States national 
museum, appear to constitute all the available material in America. On the 
basis of this material I have prepared the following review of the history and 
characters of this interesting monotreme. 
HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. 
Peters and Doria (1876) based their original description of the Proechidna 
on a cranium from Mt. Arfak, northern New Guinea. It lacked a large part of 
the posterior end as well as the lower jaw, but from its strikingly long and curved 
rostrum as compared with that of the Australian Echidna, they considered it a 
new species and named it Tachyglossus bruijnii. In the Annual record of 
science and industry for 1876, p. elxxi, published about May 5, 1877, Gill called 
attention to this new and remarkable animal and proposed for it the generic 
name Zaglossus (see Palmer, 1895). Gervais, in November, 1877, unaware of 
Gill’s paper, likewise considered it generically distinct from Tachyglossus and 
named it Acanthoglossus, which he shortly discovered was preoccupied by 
Acanthoglossa for a genus of insects. He accordingly renamed it Proechidna, 
under which title it has become generally known. Indeed the name is so well 
established that it seems best to retain it in a vernacular sense, as well as the 
