THE OPOSSUM 51 



seemed to represent and belong to the before-named 

 edentate order — that which contains the ant-eaters as well 

 as the sloths. The animal we refer to is what we now call 

 the echidna. It is a little larger than a hedgehog, and, 

 like that animal, has its body protected by an investment 

 of strong sharp-pointed Opines. It has extremely power- 

 ful claws, and its long and slender jaws are entirely 

 toothless, but contain a very long, extensile, and worm- 

 like tongue. It is not surprising that it was called by 

 Shaw at the end of the last century a spiny ant-eater. 



The French naturalists, MM. Quoy and Guimard, pro- 

 cured a specimen in Van Diemen's Land, which they 

 kept alive for some time. They describe it as an 

 apathetic and stupid animal, and state that for the first 

 month after its capture it took no sustenance whatever, 

 but at the end of that time it began to lap, and finally 

 to eat some food prepared for it, consisting of a mixture 

 of flour, water, and sugar. It avoided the light, re- 

 maining during the day partially rolled up with its head 

 bent forward between its fore-legs. The rapidity with 

 which it burrowed was astonishing. Being placed in a 

 large cask full of earth, containing plants, it worked its 

 way to the bottom in less than two minutes. Messrs. 

 Bass and Flinders, who found one of these creatures, 

 have related that their dogs could make no impression on 

 it. It escaped from them by burrowing in the loose sand. 

 It did not, however, do so head forward, but directly 

 downward, thus presenting nothing but a prickly back 

 to its adversaries as it descended. Another specimen 

 was kept alive for some time by Lieut. Breton, who 

 fed it on ants' eggs and milk. One kept in the Zoological 

 Gardens in London was accustomed, when irritated, to 

 roll itself up into a ball as a hedgehog does, the sharp 

 points of its spikes then presenting themselves in all 



