GUIDE. 
N entering the Museum by the public door, and 
not ascending the staircase, the visitor finds 
himself in a large hall, and here to the left are placed 
the cases of mammals, to the right the birds. 
The first small case on the left contains the lowest 
mammals, the 
Monotremata, 
i.e, the peculiar Duckbill or Ornithorhynchus, and 
the Spiny Anteaters or Eehidnae. The most striking 
characteristic of these interesting animals is the fact 
that their young are produced from eggs laid by the 
female. The Duckbill {Ornithorhynchus anatinus) 
is an inhabitant of Australia. The smaller species 
of Spiny Anteaters, Echidna aculeata and allies, are 
found, in a number of local forms, in Australia, 
Tasmania, and Southern New Guinea, while the 
larger species. Echidna (or Proechidna) bruipii, and 
the rare E, nigroaculeata, occur in Northern New 
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