EDENTATA. 
127 
or oviparous.* The singularities of their skeleton are not less remarkable ; there being a sort 
of clavicle common to both shoulders, placed before the ordinary clavicle, and analogous to 
thefurcula of birds. Lastly, in addition to five claws on each foot, the males have a peculiar 
spur on the hind ones, perforated by a canal which transmits a liquid secreted by a gland 
situated on the inner surface of the thigh : it is asserted that the wounds it inflicts are 
venomous.f These animals have no external conch to the ear, and their eyes are very small. 
The Monotremes are found only in New Holland, where they have been discovered since 
the settlement of the English. There are two genera known. 
The Echidnas {Echidna, Cuv. ; Tachyglossus, Ilhg. : sometimes called Spiny Ant-eaters). 
The elongated slender muzzle of these animals, terminated by a small mouth, and containing an exten- 
sile tongue, resembles that of the Ant-eaters and Pangolins, and like them, they feed on Ants. They 
have no teeth, hut their palate is provided with several ranges of small spines, directed backwards. 
Their short feet have each five long and very stout claws, fitted for burrowing ; and all the upper part 
of their body is covered with spines, as in a Hedgehog, [but much larger and more powerful] . It 
appears that in the moment of danger, they have also the faculty of rolling themselves into a hall. 
The tail is verv short ; stomach ample and nearlv globular, and the ccecum of middle size. 
Two species have been discovered, — the Spiny Echidna 
(E. hystrix), completely covered with large spines, — and 
the Bristly Echidna {E. setosa), covered with hair, 
among which the spines are half-hidden. Some con- 
sider the difference as only arising from age. 
The Duckbills {Ornithorynchus, Blumenbgch ; 
Platypus, Shaw). 
Muzzle elongated, and at the same time singularly 
enlarged and flattened, presenting the greatest ex- 
ternal resemblance to the bill of a Duck, and the 
more so as its edges are similarly furnished with 
small transverse laminae. They have no teeth ex- 
cept at the bottom of the mouth, where there are two on each side of both jaws, without roots, with 
flat crowns, and composed, as in the Orycterope, of small vertical tubes. Their fore-feet have a 
membrane which not only connects the toes, but extends beyond the claws : in the hinder, the mem- 
brane reaches only to the base of the claws ; two characters which, in addition to their flattened tail, 
indicate aquatic habits. Their tongue is to 
a certain extent double ; one in the bill beset 
with villosities ; and another at the base of 
the first, thicker, and furnished anteriorly 
with two little fleshy points. The stomach 
is small, oblong, and has its outlet near 
the entrance ; coecum small ; and there are 
numerous salient and parallel laminae in the 
course of the intestines. The penis has only 
two tubercles. These animals inhabit the 
rivers and marshes of New Holland, and 
particularly the neighbourhood of Port 
Jackson. 
Two species only are known, one with smooth 
blackish-brown fur, flat, and somewhat frizzled. T 
Fig. 53.— The Ornitliorynchus. 
and thin reddish fur {0. paradoxus, Blum.); the other with 
liese are perhaps only varieties of age. 
rig:. 52 —Echidna 
Shrews. [Prof. Owen has since demonstrated them to be mammary, 
although these animals (like the true Cetacea) have no teats or nip- 
ples, the lacteal secretion transuding by a number of minute pores.] 
• Travellers have lately asserted, that they have been ascertained 
to produce eggs. Should this prove to be the case, the Monotremes 
must, in some sort, be considered as a particular class of animals ; but 
it is much to be wished, that some competent anatomist would minutely 
describe these eggs, their internal origin, and their developement 
after .exclusion. [Prof. Owen has since conclusively shown that the 
Monotremata are not ovipaous, but must resemble in their repro- 
duction the Marsiipiata. The young have never yet been met with 
attached to the mammm of their dam, but from the structure of the 
beak in very young Ornithorhynci, which have been found in the 
burrows, there can be little doubt that the mouth forms, at first, a 
suctorial disk, adapted to hold on an even flat surface.] 
t There is reason to suspect that this statement is without founda- 
tion, as the animals never attempt to employ the spur as a weapon of 
defence. — Ed. 
