| OCR Text |
Show 338 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE RACES OF ECHIDNA. [Apr. 21, These modifications are, so to speak, the characters of incipient species ; but in m y opinion they have neither yet gone far enough, nor are yet sufficiently constant to necessitate our recognizing more than a single species of true Echidna, with three geographical varieties, of which the characters and synonvmy are as follows. 1. E. ACULEATA LAWESI. (Plate XXIII. fig. A.) Tachyglossus lawesi, E. P. Ramsay, P. Linn. Soc. N. S. W . ii. p. 31 (1877), iii. p. 244 (1879); A. Dubois, Bull. Soc. Zool. vi. p. 268 (1881) ; Peters & Doria, Ann. Mus. Genov. xvi. p. 688 (1881). Hab. New Guinea (as yet only known from Port Moresby). Size small. Spines rather short, with the hairs partly visible between them ; crown of head, belly, and legs clothed almost entirely with flattened bristles. Third hind claw only from one third to one half the length of the second, and but little larger than the fourth. Skull small and very narrow (breadth about 41 mm.; index 37 or 38), with a small low brain-case (capacity 17 or 18 cubic centimetres), and with a proportionally long slender snout (rostral index, 109-114). No condyloid vacuities. 2. E. ACULEATA TYPICA. (Plate XXIII. fig. B.) Myrmecophaga aculeata, Shaw, Nat. Misc. iii. pi. 109 (1792). Ornithorhynchus hystrix, Home, Phil. Trans. 1802, p. 348, pi. x. Echidna aculeata, Waterhouse, N. H. M a m m . i. p. 41 (1846); Flower & Garson, Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 751 (1884). E. hystrix, Cuv. Regn. Anim. i. p. 226 (1817); Gould, M a m m. Austr. i. pi. ii. 1852 ; Mivart, Tr. Linn. Soc. sxv. p. 379 (1866) ; Murie, J. Linn. Soc. xvi. p. 413 (1878) (et auctorum plurimorum). E. australiensis, Less. Man. M a m m . p. 318 (1827). E. longiaculeata, Tiedem. Zoologie, i. p. 592 (1808)- E. acanthion, R. Collett, Eorh. Vid. Selsk. No. 13 ; P. Z. S. 1885, p. 150. Hab. The whole continent of Australia. Size medium. Spines very long, entirely hiding the hairs ; crown of the head, belly, and legs covered with a mixture of hairs and bristles. Third hind claw as in lawesi. Skull of medium size and proportions (breadth 43-49 mm., index 40 to 42), with a medium-sized brain-case (capacity 22-27 c. cm.), and a long slender snout (rostral index generally from 93 to 103). Condyloid vacuities generally absent. 3. E. ACULEATA SETOSA. (Plate XXIII. figs. C and D.) " Another species of Ornithorhynchus," Home, Phil. Trans. 1802, p. 357, pi. xiii. Echidna setosa, Cuv. Regn. Anim. i. p. 226 (1817); Waterh. |
