178 Proceedings. 



tions of recent Graininece, Mnsci, tScc. in carbonate of lime, found on 

 the west coast near Cape Grimm. 



Extracts from a letter of the Rev. W. B. Clarke, of Sydney, touching 

 the fossil contents of the carboniferous rocks in that neighbourhood, 

 and their probable identity with sandstones, &c. associated with the 

 coal in Tasmania, were read by the Secretary. 



Mr. Milligan mentioned that one of the Aborigines of Tasmania 

 reports having often discovered the nest of the Echidna setosa, por- 

 cupine or ant-eater, of the colony ; that on several occasions one egg 

 had been found in it, and never more : this egg has always been found 

 to contain a fcelus or chick, and is said to be round, considerably 

 less than a tennis ball, and without a shell. The mother is said to 

 sit continuously (for a period not ascertained) in the manner of the 

 common fowl over the eg^ ; she does not leave the young for a con- 

 siderable time after having hatched it ; at length, detaching it from the 

 small teat, she moves out hurriedly and at long intervals in quest of 

 food, — the young one becoming, at each successive return, attached to 

 the nipple. The young animal, at first altogether devoid of covering, 

 soon acquires fur, and afterwards quills or spines, which, like the 

 deciduous teeth of childien, or feathers of birds in the moulting 

 season, are shed during the summer, to be replaced seriatim with a 

 stronger, thicker, and effectual defence of the same sort. 



The adult female Echidnce are nursing their young at this season 

 of the year, and therefore rarely met with. About the close of 

 summer individual females have been often found, it is said, sur- 

 rounded with a numerous suite of admirers of the opposite sex ; each 

 like a queen holding amid her admirers her separate slate, far 

 removed from the possibility of any " rival near the throne." 



The Platypus {Omithorhgncus paradoxus) is said to lay two eggs, 

 having the same external membranous covering, but of an oblong 

 shape. 



