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PHASCOLOMYS WOMBAT, {DIDELPHIS.) Shaw. 



BY S. HANNAFORD, ESQ. 



I THINK it the duty of every naturalist, as far as lies in his power, to 

 raake known to science whatever particulars he can collect concerning the 

 habits and instincts of those animals which are indigenous in that part of 

 ihe world in which he resides, and also to correct where he can, statements 

 made by parties entirely unacquainted, ecc visa, with their mode of living, 

 where they are at variance with facts. Never was correction more needed 

 than in the "Notes on the Natural History of Australasia," recently pub- 

 lished in the Melbourne Monthly Magazine, and 1 lose no time in noticing 

 them, ere such absurd ideas become more generally difiused. 



At page 100, speaking of the Wombat, the writer says — 



"Although there is a spinal extenuation, it is destitute of a tail It has no pouch. 



It possesses a greater quantity of fat than any other Australian quadruped, •which, 



when boiled down, makes excellent candles The male shares with the dam the duties 



of rearing their young. Each strives by parental kindness to exceed the other in attending 

 to their offspring. This particular tendency on the part of the Wombat may be ordained by 

 Nature to compensate for the loss of the pouch." 



Without noticing these remarks seriatim, I will describe, for the inform- 

 ation of my readers, who are not living near Wombat settlements, their 

 appearance, and what I know of their habits from actual experience. 



The scientific name of this extraordinary animal is Phascolomys Wombat; 

 and I would remark here how much I approve of the native names being 

 used specifically, as in this case, for it facilitates conversation with the 

 natives, when wishing to learn any particulars of indigenous animals or 

 plants. 



The Wombat belongs to the Marsupial family, having a pouch, from 

 which I have myself taken the young. It is a thick, short, cluras3'-looking 

 quadruped, about ybwr feet in length, and weighing about a hundred- weight, 

 to which my shoulders have often borne witness. (Mr. Swainson, in his 

 "Classification of Quadrupeds," page 339, says, "Its size is that of a rabbit;" 

 and Bulwer, in his clever novel, "The Caxtons," speaks of it as "between 

 a miniature pig and a small badger," — page 414.) It has a remarkably 

 large flat head; the eyes far apart; is covered with a thick coat of strong 

 stiff hair, of a light brown or greyish colour; the back broad and flat; 

 legs very short; the belly almost touching the ground; — in fact, it has, 

 as Swainson describes, "a shapeless body," yet his drawing is that of an 

 arched, barrel-shaped animal, standing higher from the ground than is 

 natural. The toes on the fore feet, five in number, are all clawed, but in 

 the hind toes, four only are clawed, the fifth assuming a tubercled or 

 rounded appearance. The head, as well as the hinder parts of the body, 

 are covered with a very thick skin, which makes capital saddles. 

 VOL. VI. x<^H.M/7?>v x; 



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