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Show 1885.] MR. O. THOMAS ON THE RACES OF ECHIDNA. 329 p. 277, 1837, toward a complete monograph, "Muscular System of Apteryx.'" If Prof. Ray Lankester should find time to refer to Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. ii. p. 271, which he deems to testify to the error he kindly proposes to rectify, he may find sufficient ground for the present Note. I beg to express my obligation for his endeavour to expose the strange blunder into which the Professor supposes me to have fallen. 2. Notes on the Characters of the different Races of Echidna. By O L D F I E L D T H O M A S , F.Z.S., Natural History Museum. [Received March 10, 1885.] (Plates XXIII.,XXIV.) Through the kindness of Prof. Moseley, the Natural History Museum has obtained a female specimen, collected by the Rev. W . G. Lawes, of the New-Guinea Echidna described in 1877 by Mr. E. Pierson Ramsay of Sydney as E. lawesi; and, in the process of working out and making notes upon this interesting animal, I have obtained such a series of specimens of various sorts, that I find myself able to offer some notes on the characters of the different races of Echidna, and on their relations one to another. Of the large series of specimens examined I would especially draw attention to:-(1) A second individual of Echidna lawesi, also collected by Mr. Lawes, and lent to me by the authorities of the Liverpool Museum, to whose Curator, Mr. T. J. Moore, I beg to offer my sincere thanks for the loan ; and (2) the typical specimens, belonging to the Christiania Museum, of the species described by Dr. Robert Collett in this year's ' Proceedings ' as Echidna acanthion, which have been kindly lent to me by that gentleman. I must also offer m y thanks to Dr. J. G. Garson, of the Royal College of Surgeons, Dr. Liitken and Dr. Winge, of the Copenhagen Museum, Dr. F. A. Jentink, of Leyden, and Prof. A. Dubois, of Brussels, either for the loan of specimens, or for measurements, drawings, and other particulars kindly forwarded me by letter. It was very early perceived, in fact by Sir Everard Home in 18021, that the Tasmanian Echidna was different in many respects, especially in the characters of its external covering, from that found on the mainland ; but authors have not agreed as to the value to be attached to the characters of the two forms, some considering them to be quite distinct species, while others have thought them to be only climatic races, and others again have treated them as one, without taking any note of the differences that are undoubtedly present between them. To estimate the value of these differences, to compare with the long-known southern and central forms the recently described E. lawesi and E. acanthion, and to show what differences are due respectively to age, sex, geographical distribution, and climate, are the chief objects of the present paper. 1 Phil. Trans. 1802, p. 348, pis. x. & xiii. |