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 affairs. It must be remembered, however, that the Cetacea show the same characters, though it is possible that they too are developed from a low mammalian stock. In the vertebral column we find the typical mammalian seven cervicals; but those characteristically mammalian structures the epiphyses are



totally absent in Echidna, and only to be seen in the tail-region in Ornithorhynchus. In having only the capitular head to the ribs, these mammals are evidently far removed from all other mammals, and are even more reptilian than the Theromorphous reptiles. The large clavicles and the interclavicle (Fig. 52,