dense, woolly, brown fur;—but these diversities are more generally considered as seasonal variations.
The length of the Echidna (the Hedgehog of the colonists), is about one foot; the colour of the spines is a dirty yellowish-white, with blackish tips; that of the stiff hair with which the rest of the body and limbs are clothed is a blackish-brown. Its food consists of ants with their larve and pupe, which, like the true Ant-eaters, it takes by means of a long worm-like tongue, which it can protrude to a great distance, and which is always covered with an adhesive secretion. Its powers of burrowing are very great. Messrs. Bass and Flinders state that their dogs, having found one of these "Porcupine Ant-eaters," could make no impression on the animal, which escaped by burrowing in the loose sand, not head-foremost, but by sinking itself directly downwards, and thus presenting nothing but its prickly back to its assailants. And according to Mr. G. Bennett, it will even work its way under a pretty strong pavement or base of a wall, removing the stones with its claws. During these exertions its body is stretched or lengthened to an uncommon degree, and appears very different from the short plump aspect, which it bears in its undisturbed state.
Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard, who procured one of these animals in Van Diemen’s Land, have given an account of its manners while in their possession. They describe it as stupid and listless; for a month after its capture, it refused all sustenance, from which it did not appear to suffer, though it became very meagre. It sought the darkest places, shunning the light of day; or
