. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. THE MOITH (a) and NOSE- SNOl'T (k) or ECHIDNA, then they are united by plain lines of junction, and not by jagged sutures. The shoulder and the bones of the upper part of the chest resemble those of the Water Mole, and will be noticed in its description. The brain of the Echidna weighs about one-fiftieth of the whole body, and the hemi- spheres do not conceal the cerebellum. There are three convolutions behind, and in front of them is a large one bent on itself, and on its outside are some'oblique folds. The sense of .smell, evid
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. THE MOITH (a) and NOSE- SNOl'T (k) or ECHIDNA, then they are united by plain lines of junction, and not by jagged sutures. The shoulder and the bones of the upper part of the chest resemble those of the Water Mole, and will be noticed in its description. The brain of the Echidna weighs about one-fiftieth of the whole body, and the hemi- spheres do not conceal the cerebellum. There are three convolutions behind, and in front of them is a large one bent on itself, and on its outside are some'oblique folds. The sense of .smell, evidently acute in the Echidna, is assisted by a large development of the olfactory lobes of the brain and their nerves. The Eclii(hias have large marsupial bones. They have not a true pouch, but only a rudimentary one, or rather an infolding of the skin, during the breeding season, in the female. The orifices of the teats are situated beneath the level of the skin, and inverted ; and as the surrounding parts swell under the influence of suckling, there is a little cavity made, at the bottom of which are the so-called nipples. They are really little depressions with hair around them. The young Echidnas are placed in temporary cavity by the mother, and help themselves by placing their snouts in the small depressions leading to the milk gland. Captain Armit says that some force is required to get the young out of the pouch, and that there is probably a muscular ring to it. They ai-e at first very small. When about a month or so old, the hinder parts of the young may be seen sticking out of the region of the fold, and at three months the body may be observed, the animal still adliering by its snout. When the prickles of the yoiuig begin to harden, the old one turns them out into the world. (But see Postscript, p. 234.) A short-spined Echidna {Echidna setosa) inliabits Van Diemen's Land, whose hail' is sufliciently long to hide most of the spines, but little is known regarding it
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecta, booksubjectanimals
