344. THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
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aa TTT Ww. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S. 
TASMANIAN ECHIDNA, OR PORCUPINE ANT-EATER 
This is the largest variety of the five-toed species; it grows to a length of 20 inches, and has the fur so long as almost to conceal the spines 
that both these and other examples kept were observed to be very irregular; for while usually 
most lively and disposed to ramble after it grew dusk, they would at other times come out of 
their own accord in the daytime, or perhaps one would ramble about while the other slept. 
When going to sleep, they would roll themselves up in a perfect ball, the head, tail, and limbs 
being closely folded over the abdomen. 
The food question appears to have presented almost insurmountable difficulties so far 
against the permanent acclimatisation of these interesting animals in any of our European 
zoological gardens. At the Melbourne Zoo some considerable success was obtained by fencing 
off a small pond abounding with insects and well-established water-plants for their reception, 
and in this instance they had also the advantage of being brought speedily and within a few 
hours of their capture to their new home. For their long voyage to Europe the provision of 
an adequate quantity of living insects or other aquatic organisms is a by no means easy task. 
They have, however, been known to thrive on broken-up river-mussels for the space of two or 
three weeks, and would probably have done so for a longer period. This material might easily 
be stored for their use on board ship. 
An incident concerning the natural predilections of the platypus that fell within the writer’s 
observation in Tasmania might also be utilised in their experimental transportation. At the 
trout- and salmon-rearing establishment on the river Plenty—of which the writer was at 
the time superintendent—the platypuses proved to be most destructive to the spawn both 
deposited in the hatching-boxes and upon the natural spawning-beds, or ‘“ redds,” and they had 
in consequence to be systematically destroyed. This being the case, it is probable that they 
would be found to thrive well on a diet consisting to a large extent of the preserved roes 
or spawn of any easily procurable fish—such as the Murray perch and cod—and of which 
adequate supplies might with facility be stored aboard ship. The admixture in all cases of 
a certain amount of sand or mud with their provided pabulum would appear to be essential 
for digestive purposes, such material being always found in considerable quantities in their 
stomachs when dissected. 
