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Show 150 MR. R. COLLETT ON ECHIDNA ACANTHION. [Feb. 3, from Central and North Queensland in the years 1881-84 \ there were nine specimens of the North-Queensland Echidna, a\\ of them collected in the district west of Rockhampton, under 23° S. lat. I shall endeavour now to give some remarks on these specimens. In my opinion there can be no doubt of their being different from E. aculeata ; and as they also seem to differ from E. laivesi, Rams., from New Guinea, described in March 1877 (Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 30), a species still only imperfectly known, but to which they are, at any rate, very nearly related, I have thought it best to give the North Queensland Echidna a special name ; and at the last meeting of the Scientific Society of Christiania (Dec. 14, 1884), I communicated its diagnosis and a brief description of it under the name of E. acanthion. ECHIDNA ACANTHION, Coll. 1884. Tachyglossus, sp. inc., Armit, Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xiv. (Zoology), p. 411 (Cardwell district), 1878. Echidna hystrix, Murie, Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xiv. (Zoology), p. 413 (Cardwell district), 1878. Tachyglossus lawesi, Ltk. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1884, p. 150 (unknown locality). Echidna acanthion, Collett, Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 1884, no. 13, pp. 1-12 (Rockhampton district), 1884. Diayn. Snout of moderate length, or rather short, slightly bent upwards, and to the length of the skull as 1 to 2-2y. The skull, which is to the total length as 1 to about 4, is broadest below, and more or less narrower towards the parietalia. The breadth is to the length of the skull as 1 to 2*5. The dorsal spines are powerful and closely set, of unequal size; whitish yellow with black tips ; some, which are longer than the others, form irregular rows along the back, the rest being shorter, with the black tip broader; they begin midway between eye and ear, and extend on the sides a little beyond the margin of the belly. Flattish bristles, intermingled with hairs, cover the front, the fore feet, and the belly. Breast and throat covered with hairs. The hairs on the hack very short and scarce. The soft parts of the body brownish black, sometimes with a clearer tint on the fore limbs ; in a young male the throat was yellowish brown. The second claw on the hind foot is very long, the third short and slender, being scarcely half the length of the second. Total length about 450 millim. Locality. Dr. Lumholtz informs me that he found this species fairly well distributed over the eastern part of Central Queensland. In the coast-range near Herbert river in North Queensland (18° S. lat.) it was also common ; it occurs here in the ranges covered with dense scrubs. It is called " Gombian " by the natives, and is tracked by the tamed dingoes, and it is considered here, as everywhere else, a great delicacy by reason of its fatness. 1 Vide Proc. Zool. Soc. 1884, p. 381 (and p. 406). |