ECHIDNAS 187

feet long, one entrance to which is below the water-
level, and the other up on the ground. Here is the
rough nest where the eggs are hatched, and here he
sleeps during the heat of the day, coming out in the
twilight to swim and dive and feed on worms and

 

LAWES’S ECHIDNA

insects and whatever he may find, stowing away all
the food he can in his cheek pouches. He has no
external ears, and his eyes are small, but he is quick
to perceive the approach of danger, and active as an
otter in the stream. He is a living fossil, the last and
most doubtful of the mammalia.