2. PEOEOHIDNA. 383 



Vertebrae : — Cervical 7, dorsal 17, lumbar 4, sacral 3, caudal 12 ; 

 total 43. 



Range, That of the only species. 



This genus is only doubtfully distinguishable from Echidna, 

 agreeing with it in nearly every essential respect. ■ One of its chief 

 characters, moreover, has lately been shown to be inconstant by the 

 description by Dr. Max Weber, under the heading of " Een nieuwe 

 Soort van Proechidna," of a specimen with five anterior and four 

 posterior claws. The agreement of Dr. Weber's animal with P. 

 bruijnii in other respects induces me to look upon it as an abnormal 

 individual in which the first and fifth anterior, and the fifth poste- 

 rior, claws have been developed atavisticaUy, an occurrence that might 

 naturally have been expected sometimes to take place, considering the 

 normally nearly complete development of the digits corresponding to 

 these claws. On the other ha,nd, however, as the external claws 

 show no tendency towards disappearance in Echidna, and as there 

 are differences both in the number of the vertebrae and in the struc- 

 ture of the beak, I have thought it advisable to retain, at least for 

 the present, a genus so generally recognized as Proechidna. 



1. Proechidna bruijnii. 



Tackyglossus bruijnii, Peters ^ Boria, Ann. Mus. Genov. ix. p. 183, 



fig. (skull) (1876) ; iid. op. dt. xvi. p. 687 (1881). 

 Acanthoglossus bruijnii, Oerv. C. R. 187?fpp. 837 & 990 ; id. Jowrn. 



Zool. vi. p. 375 (1877) ; id. OsUogr. Monotr. p. 41, Atl. pi. vi. 



(animal), pis. vii.-ix. (skull & skeleton) (1877) ; Flow. Encyol. 



Brit. (9) XV. g. 878, fig. 22 (animal) (1883). 

 Proechidna bruijnii, Qerv. Ost&ogr. Monotr. p. 43 (1877) ; Murie, J. 



Linn. Soc. xvi. p. 417 (1878) ; Thos. P. Z. 8. 1885, p. 389; Jent. 



Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. p. 326 (1887). 

 Bruijnia tridactyla, Dubois, Pull. Soc. Zool. vi. p. 266, pis. ix. (skuU) 



& x. (limb-bones) (1882). 

 Echidna bruijnii, Plbw. &■ Gars. Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 753 



(1884). 

 Proechidna viEosissima, Dubois, Pull. Mus. Belg. iii. p. 110, pi. iv. 



(animal & skull) (1884) (juv.). 

 "Een nieuwe Soort van Proechidna,'' Weber, Bijd. tot de Bierk., 



Feest-Nummer. Art. 5, pi. i. (skull & feet) (1888). 



Thebe-toed Echjcdna. 



General size of body about equalling that of the largest forms of 

 Echidna. Fur of head, body, and limbs thick, coarse, and woolly, 

 not or scarcely intermixed with flattened bristles ; colour of the fur 

 uniform dark brown or black, the head sometimes nearly white. 

 Sprues of back much fewer in number and much shorter than in 

 Echidna; their colour generally whoUy white, but their bases 

 sometimes brown. 



SJc ull as above described ; cranial capacity of specimen a, 44 c. cm. 

 Condyloid vacuities usually present. 



