Mr. Home's Description of the Anatomy , &c. 
ness, but rather larger just below the shoulders. The greatest 
circumference of the body is 17 inches. 
The back and sides are covered with short coarse hair, half 
an inch long, and with quills like those of the porcupine, only 
shorter and less pointed ; they appear to be ranged in rows, in 
the direction of the animal's length ; those on the sides are 21- 
inches long, the others between one and two inches. The quills 
on each side of the body, between the setting on of the hind legs 
and the tail, have a direction forwards, so as to be opposed to 
the others. 
The head and neck are covered with a coarser hair than the 
rest of the body, and are almost entirely without quills. 
On the breast, the hair is long and soft, and without quills ; 
on the skin of the belly, it is almost entirely wanting. 
No appearance of false nipples could be detected, either on 
the belly or breast. 
Externally there is no appearance of organs of generation ; 
the orifice of the anus being a common opening to the rectum 
and the prepuce of the penis. 
The bill, which projects from the head in a tubular form, is 
1 1 inch long. It is conical in its shape, convex upon the upper 
surface, and flat upon the lower; at its point, it is f of an inch 
in diameter, and at its base : it has the same smooth cuticular 
covering as the bill of the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, but has 
not the la teral lips, the sides being closed to within half an inch 
of their extremity. The upper part of the bill is formed by 
an elongation of the nose and palate ; and the lower portion by 
a continuation of the two bones of the under jaw, as in the 
paradoxus. 
Z z 
MDCCCIIo 
