36 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY. 
or less broadly tipped with black, sharply pointed, and about 1} 
inches in length. They commence on the back part of the head, 
and extend over the whole upper surface of the body. ‘heir points 
are directed backwards, and on the back inwards, so that they cross 
each other in the mesial line. Near the root of the tail they form a 
large tuft, and hide the small rudimentary tail. ‘he whole of the 
under surface and the limbs are covered with coarse brownish-black 
hairs, ‘The legs are short and strong; the fore feet are short and 
broad, and armed with large solid and nearly straight nails. The 
hind feet are narrower and less powerful than the others, the second 
toe being armed with a large claw sometimes 14 inches in length, 
the use of which is to cast away the earth loosened by the fore feet. 
The heel of the hind legs in the male is armed with a strong spur. 
Habits.—The echidna sleeps during the day in its burrow, but 
runs about and feeds at night. “Bass and Flinders state that when 
they were at Twofold Bay their dogs found a porcupine ant-eater, 
but that they could make no impression on the animal. It escaped 
by burrowing in the loose sand—not head foremost, but by sinking 
itself directly downwards, thus presenting nothing but a prickly 
back to its adversaries. When attacked it has been known to 
burrow to a somewhat great depth in a short time (it has penetrated 
two feet of loose garden soil in two or three minutes). ‘The move- 
ments of the echidna are tardy, the principal exertion being made 
when burrowing. When touched upon the under surface, or un- 
covered parts of the body, or when attacked by dogs, it rolls, like 
the hedgehog, into a spherical form, the prickly coat forming a good 
defence against the canine race, which have a decided aversion from 
having their noses pricked. This animal, when cleaning itself, uses 
only the hind claws, lying in different positions, so as to enable it to 
reach any part of the ary Its walk is slow and heavy. It is of a 
perfectly harmless disposition. It is terrestrial, fossorial and 
myrmecophagous. The female lays eggs, hatches them in her 
pouch, suckles the young,-as do other mammals. The pouch is said 
to be found only when she has eggs or young. It produces its 
young from July to December. ‘he season varies with the latitude. 
‘ood. —In a state of nature the food of the spiny echidna con- 
sists of ants, of which a never failing supply can at all times be pro- 
cured, since this tribe of insects is probably more numerous in 
Australia than in any other part of the world. ‘They are procured 
by means of its protractile, lengthened, slender and flexible tongue, 
which is constantly kept lubricated with a viscous matter to which 
the ants adhere. In captivity it may be fed upon milk and eggs, 
the eggs being boiled hard and chopped up small, with rice. 
Where found.—The range of the genus is most extensive, from 
New Guinea on the north to Tasmania on the south; and whether 
as one species or more (which will be discussed hereafter), the 
echidna is a cosmopolitan of Australasia. It inhabits the sandy and 
sterile plains, but is nowhere abundant, except in a part of Queens- 
land. It is met with on the Goulburn plains, and on the islands in 
Bass Strait. 


