Dr Knox on the Wombat of Flinders. Ill 



|~, molaires j^. A little farther on, he says, that there are 

 four small teeth intermediate between the incisives and the up- 

 per molar teeth ; and he asserts, contrary to the statement of 

 Baron Cuvier, that the thumb on the posterior extremities is 

 very large. M. De Blainville, whose extreme accuracy as an 

 anatomist and naturalist I am well acquainted with, gives a 

 third description, differing considerably from the two already 

 spoken of. 



With these conflicting statements before us,' I may venture to 

 question the existence of the Koala, as now described in books of 

 history, however nearly it may seem to approach the animal called 

 by me the Wombat of Flinders. Perhaps it may be permitted 

 me to propose the abolition of the term Koala, and restore the 

 names employed by the natives of New Holland. The classifi- 

 cation, then, of these very extraordinary animals would be as 

 follows * : 



Genus WOMBAT. 

 Phascolarctos of De Blainville. — Koala, Cuv. -f- 



Charact. — Incisiv. j, Canin. ^. Molar. |^, =: Jf. 



The two upper middle incisives much longer than the others ; 

 the lower incis. like those of the kangaroo. 



Ears large and pointed, with the conch directed forward. 

 Five-toed ; toes of the anterior extremity divided into two 

 groups ; thumb and index, and the other three together. Thumb 

 on the posterior extremities large, separated without any nail; 

 the two following toes smaller^ and re-united as far as the nails. 



I. Sp. Wombat of Flinders. 

 Phascolarctos of De Blainville. — Koala of Cuvier and Desmarest. 

 For the anatomy and natural history, see Sir E. Home in 

 Phil. Trans. 1808, and the foregoing paper. 



• The arrangement here proposed is nearly the same as that employed by 

 M . Desmarest in his " Tableau methodique des Mammiferes," published in 1804. 

 He describes the Wombat as having 6 incisors in each jaw, two canine, and 

 16 molar teeth; the only species being the Wombatus fossor. I am not at all 

 certain to what animal the above description is applicable, if not to some spe- 

 cies of the Wombat entirely unknown to me. 



•j- Baron Cuvier has not given any authority for the establishment of the 

 Koala as a distinct genus. 



