200 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



up in a protective spiky ball. Its usual food consists of 

 termites, but the Echidna can for a considerable space of time 

 endure hunger without succumbing. Once I kept a specimen 

 tied up in a bag for more than a fortnight, lacking time to skin 

 it, and during that period it did not obtain the least nutriment; 

 but at the end of the confinement it seemed to be perfectly well, 

 and dissection proved it to be in a fat condition. 



The breeding was said by the natives to take place at the 

 commencement of the rainy season, and in a female specimen 

 examined in the drought of the year (May, 1895) there was no 

 sign of the abdominal milk-glands commencing to swell. The 

 ovaries contained eggs, some of which were developed to almost 

 the size of a pea. The natives strongly denied and even ridiculed 

 the idea of an Echidna laying an egg and transferring it to the 

 temporary pouch for hatching. 



The Echidna being dependent on termites for food, and 

 especially well adapted for burrowing, I was surprised at not 

 finding the animal in the low plains, where the termites were very 

 abundant and the soil by no means harder than in the moun- 

 tainous regions. But it strikes me that there is a circumstance 

 which may have forced the Echidna from the plains and restricted 

 it to the broken regions. There is no doubt that an animal 

 burrowing in the soil is more exposed to persecution by the 

 aborigines — the only enemy of the Echidna — than one hiding 

 beneath the colossal boulders in the granite and sandstone forma- 

 tions ; and I have no hesitation in expressing my opinion that 

 the occurrence of the Echidna only in the rocky regions of 

 Arnhem Land is in all probability due to the steady persecution 

 of the natives. 



In other portions of Australia, where the natives are less 

 numerous, the Echidna, I am informed, may be found not only in 

 the smooth undulating hills, but also in sandy plains. In the north 

 it was, as far as my experience goes, exclusively confined to the 

 broken ranges, large numbers being only found in the most wild 

 and broken formations ; and this circumstance, I consider, must 

 be regarded as a very striking example of how the natural dis- 

 positions of an animal may be influenced and even altered or 

 modified by human interference. 



