Lect. II.] 



THE DUCKBILLED PLATYPUS. 



25 



LECTUKE II. 



Peototheeia (Monoteemata). 



The lowest, or teatless mammals, still linger in the 

 Australian region, in tlie form of tlie spiny Ant-eater, 

 or Echidna, and tlie great Water-Mole {Platypus, or 

 Ornithorliynchus). A few fossils have been found in 

 this same region, and described by Sir Kichard Owen as 



<f mt. 





f^4(H: 



Fig. 2, — Young of Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, one half the 



natural size. 



belonging to a larger species of Echidna than any of 

 the three known existing kinds. 



But in the northern world [Avctogcea) no remains of 

 any kind of Monotreme — DucJchlll, or Echidna — have 

 rewarded the labour of the palaeontologist. Yet fossil 

 marsupials have long been known in this hemisphere ; 

 although, as Professor 0. C. Marsh suggests, Microlcstes 

 the oldest of these — the jaws of which are found at 



