CHAPTER XVI 
ORDER OF EGG-LAYING MAMMALS 
MONOTREMATA 
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” 
HERE are two Families of mammals the members of 
which lay eggs, from which their young are hatched as 
are those of birds. They form the lowest order of mammals, 
and in one respect this group forms a good connecting link 
between mammals and birds: 
OrpER MOoNOTREMATA 
EGG-LAYERS 
Duck-Bmh......... Or-ni-tho-rhyn'chi-dae ...... The Ornithorhynchus, 
or Duck-Bill. 
les Five-Toed Echidna. 
Soha Geka Tach-y-glos'si-dae........... 
Cane SE Pe Three-Toed Echidna. 
Tue Puatypus, or Duck-Bi1,' is found only in Australia, 
—a land of queer things. Not only is it bird-like in laying eggs, 
but it also possesses webbed feet, and a flat, duck-like bill, 
from which it derives one of its popular names. The beak is 
of black horn, and the food is crushed between the cross- 
ridge plates of the lower jaw and the roof of the mouth. 
1 Or-ni-tho-rhyn'chus an-a-tr’nus. 
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