OEDEE OF MONOTEEMATA. 



15 



them, but wliioL. is now restricted to the Ant-eaters proper of 

 South America. 



We possess no further information respecting the Echidna^. 

 Some of these animals have lived in captivity. They remained 

 during the greatest part of the time plunged in a sort of torpor, 

 rolled up in a ball like the Hedgehog. They were not fierce, 

 and seemed to take a pleasure in being caressed. Messrs. Quoy 

 and Gaimard, who brought over in their ship, the Adrolahe, one 

 of these animals, fed it on sugared liquids. One lived for about 

 three years in the London Zoological Gardens. 



Porcupine Ant-eater (Echidna acuicata). 



The Echidna acuicata is two or three times as large as the 

 European Hedgehog. It is foimd on the mainland of Australia ; 

 being replaced in the island of Tasmania by a second species, the 

 E. setosa, which has comparatively few prickles and much close 

 fur between them. Some bones of a much larger extinct species 

 have been discovered on the mainland of South Australia. 



