OBNITHOHTNCHID^. 393 



Suborder III. MONOTREMATA. 



Pelvis with marsupial bones. Tongue elongate. Face like 

 a beak. Insectivorous. 



Monotrema, Oeoff. 

 Reptantia, Illiger. 



Fam. 8. ORNITHORYNCHIDiE. 



Body covered with hair or spines. Mouth in the form of a flat, 

 depressed, or slender beak, subcylindrical. Hind feet of the male 

 spurred. Skeleton with marsupial bone, and a merrythought {fur- 

 cula) like that of birds. 



OmithorhynchidsB, Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 385. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



1. PiATTPTJs. Head depressed. Body covered with fur. Feet ex- 



panded, webbed. 



2. Echidna.. Head slender, conical, tapering. Body covered with 



spines. Feet with long claws. 



1. PLATYPUS. 



Beak depressed. Body covered with hair. Tail broad, short, 

 depressed. Feet very short. Toes 5.5; front toes united by a 

 web. Hind feet with an acute spur on the inner side. 



Platypus, Shaw, Viv. Nat. 1799; Gray', P. Z. 8. 1865, p. 386. 

 Omithorhynchus, JBlumenbach, Handh. p. 135, 1800. 

 Omithorhynque, Cm. Oss. Foss. 1. 14. 

 Demipus, Wiedem. Zool. Arch, i. p. 175. 



Platypus anatinus. 



Platypus anatinus, Shaw, Nat. Misc. t. 385 ; Gen. Zool. i. p. 229, t. 66, 



67,1799; Gerrard, Cat. Sones B.M. t^. 288 ; Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, 



p. 385. 

 Demipus anatinus, Wiedm. Zool. Arch. i. p. 175, t. 

 Omithorhynchus paradoxus, Blumenb. Handh. ed. 10, p. 135 ; Abbild. 



t. 41, 1800; Home, Phil. Trans. 1802, p. 87. 

 Omithorhynchus anatinus, Gould, Mamm. Austr. i. t. 1. 

 Omithorhynchus brevirostris, Ogilby, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 150. 

 Omithorhynchus rufua. Leach, Zool. Misc. p. 136. 

 Omithorhynchus fuscus, Leach, Zool. Misc. ii. p. 136, t. 111. 

 Omithorhynchus crispus et O. Isevis, Macgillivray, Mem. Wern. Soc. 



v. p. 127. 

 Duck-billed Platypus, Shaw. 

 Omithorhynque, Uuv. Oss. Foss. v. p. 143, t. 14 (skeleton). 



JTab. South-eastern Australia and Van Diemen's Land. 



2d 



