MONOTREMATA. 
43 
homy spines, the points of which are directed backwards, and 
on tho upper surface of tho tongue are numerous small homy 
warts, between which and tho palatal spines the prey of 
the animal is, no doubt, crushed, before passing into tho 
stomach. 
Side view of the Skull of the Echidna. 
The skull might bo compared to half a pear, cut length¬ 
wise ; the elongated facial bones, wliich are covered with a 
naked, blackish skin, representing the narrow end of the pear 1 . 
The muzzle is of a somewhat depressed form, and in an adult 
animal rather more than an inch and a half in length; its 
width at the base is three quarters of an inch, and near tho 
tip, 4} lines. The opening of the mouth is small, the angle 
being not more than four or five lines distant from tho tip of 
the muzzle: the nostrils are situated on the upper surface, 
near the tip; the eyes are rnther small, and of a black colour. 
The cavity of the ear is in the form of a long tube, and has 
its opening, which is large, and formed like an S, on the back 
part of the head;—it is compared, by Messrs. Quoy and 
Gaimard, to the larynx of a bird, being supported by cartila¬ 
ginous hoops, in tho same manner: there is no external 
auricle. The body is rather short and stout, and covered 
1 The foUowing are the dimensions of the skuU of an adult Echidna:— 
Total length .. 
Inches. 
4 
Lines. 
1 
Greatest width (which is behind) 
1 
9* 
Width between orbits 
0 
7§ 
Length in front of orbit 
1 
11 
Width immediately in front of orbit 
0 
10& 
Width at the point of the muzzle 
0 
3 
Length of zygomatic arch. 
0 
11 
