THE ECHIDNA. 



639 



or the dawn of morning. During the rest of the day it is generally asleep. While sleep- 

 ing, it curls itself into a round ball, the tail shutting down over the head and serving to 

 protect it. 



The young Mullingongs are curious little creatures, with soft, short, flexible beaks, naked 

 skins, and almost unrecognizable as the children of their long-nosed parents. When they 

 attain to the honor of their first coat, they are most playful little things, knocking each 

 other about like kittens, and rolling on the ground in the exuberance of their mirth. Their 

 little twinkling eyes are not well adapted for daylight, nor from their position can they see 

 spots directly in their front, so that a pair of these little creatures that were kept by Dr. Ben- 

 nett used to bump themselves against the chairs, tables, or any other object that might be 

 in their way. They bear a farther similitude to the cat in their scrupulous cleanliness, and 

 the continual washing and pecking of their fur. 



In endeavoring to accustom Duck-bills to a life of confinement, the chief difficulty lies 

 in feeding them, for the Mullingong requires its food to be given at very frequent intervals, 

 and soon perishes if not watched with the utmost care. The precise range of the animal is 

 not satisfactorily ascertained, but it has never yet been seen in Southern Australia. 



The Echidna is found in several parts of Australia, where it is popularly called the 

 hedgehog, on account of the hedgehog-like spines with which the body is so thickly cov- 

 ered, and its custom of rolling itself up when alarmed. A number of coarse hairs are 

 intermingled with the spines, and the head is devoid of these weapons. The head is strangely 

 lengthened, in a manner somewhat similar to that of the ant-eater, and there are no teeth of 

 any kind in the jaws. 



The food of the Echidna consists of ants and other insects, which it gathers into its 

 mouth by means of the long extensile tongue. It is a burrowing animal, and is therefore 

 furnished with limbs and claws of proportionate strength. Indeed, Lieutenant Breton, who 

 kept one of these animals for some time, considers it as the strongest quadruped in existence 

 in proportion to its size. On moderately soft ground it can hardly be captured, for it gathers 

 all its legs under its body, and employs its digging claws with such extraordinary vigor 

 that it sinks into the ground 



as if by magic. The hind- '''<<^~ "" ■ "'-."^7'i:^. -,.=>,.._ ; ■ " 



feet are employed by the 

 animal for two purposes, 

 i. e., locomotion and the 

 offices of the toilet. There 

 is a spur on the hind part 

 of the male similar to that 

 of the duck-bill. The flesh 

 of the Echidna is very good, 

 and is said to resemble that 

 of the sucking-pig. There 

 is another species of this 

 curious animal, very simi- 

 lar in every respect except 

 that of color, which is of 

 a darker brown, instead of 

 the black and white which 

 decorates the spines of the 

 common Echidna. Its sci- 

 entific title is Echidna 



setosa. The Echidna is tolerably widely spread over the sandy wastes of Australia, but has 

 not been seen in the more northern portions of that country. 



In a letter addressed to Professor Owen, the Sydney (New South Wales) Herald, Sep- 

 tember 16, 1884, says: "In both Ornithorhynchus and Echidna the amount of food-yolk m 



ECHIDNA. -£fcftM«a hyslrix. 



