Of the three-clawed echidnas (Proechidna) confined to New Guinea there are two species, Bruijn's echidna (P. bruijnii), discovered in 1877 in the mountains on the north-east coast at an elevation of 350o ft., and the black-spined echidna (P. nigroaculeata) of larger size - the type specimen measuring 31 in., as against 24 in.
Among plants from Lower Triassic strata there are a few which form connecting links with the older Permo-Carboniferous flora; of these we have a species, described by Blanckenhon as Sigillaria oculina, which may be correctly referred to that genus, although an inspection of a plaster-cast of the type-specimen in the Berlin Bergakademie left some doubt as to the sufficiency of the evidence for adopting the generic name Sigillaria.
One large specimen is figured by Heer from Lower Cretaceous rocks of Greenland, and by the side of the frond is shown a carpel with lateral ovules, as in the female flower of Cycas; but an examination of the type-specimen in the Copenhagen Museum led the present writer to regard this supposed carpel as valueless.
