HABITS. 301 
and breccia caves” of New South Wales, further portions had been discovered, 
including an entire humerus, a large portion of the skull, atlas, a tibia, and 
fragmentary evidences of other parts of the same skeleton.”” The edentulous 
condition, proportions, and conformation of the jaws, together with other ‘‘char- 
acteristic modifications of this monotrematous genus [Echidna], are repeated 
on the same magnified scale as in the mutilated arm-bone previously described 
and figured.”” The nature of these remains is not further indicated, but it seems 
probable that they are referable to the Proechidna, as, indeed, Flower and 
Lydekker (1891, p. 127) point out; they state that ‘‘In referring this species to 
the genus Echidna, that term must be regarded as including Proechidna.” The 
fossil humerus as figured by Owen (1884) is but very little longer than that of 
an adult New Guinea Proechidna. 
Spur.— Gervais found a spur on but one of his two specimens, the one by 
him regarded asa male. It is generally considered absent in the adult female as 
is true also of the Echidna and the Duckbill. Thus Toldt (1905) found no 
spur in one of the Vienna proechidnas he examined, while a second had a rudi- 
mentary one only. In two alcoholic specimens in the Museum of Comparative 
Zoélogy, that were males by dissection, the spur was well developed. It is 
slightly attached by connective tissue at the tarsus, but I was unable to discover 
any trace of a gland or duct in connection with it, such as is described for the 
Duckbill. 
HABITS. 
Practically nothing is known of the habits of the Proechidna in a wild state. 
According to A. A. Bruijn, by whom the original cranium was sent to Peters and 
Doria, the specimen was found by a native hunter on Mt. Arfak, at a consider- 
able altitude. Here the animal was said to be not rare, living in burrows; 
the natives hunted them by the aid of dogs, and were fond of their flesh. The 
hairy coat was said to be long and very harsh. Gervais had two specimens 
from the Karon Mountains, northern New Guinea, at an altitude of 1,150 meters. 
The natives called it nokdiak. In British New Guinea, a specimen is recorded 
by Thomas (1907) from Mt. Victoria at an altitude of 8,000 feet, and is made 
the type of the race bartoni. CGuillemard (1886) writes that his native hunters 
at Doreh Bay obtained a specimen for him, and that it was said to live in bur- 
rows in rocky ground. It is doubtless an inhabitant of rocky places, and there- 
fore avoids the low country along the coast, but present evidence does not 
indicate that it is confined to high altitudes. Dr. Thomas Barbour in 1906 
