ported in 1960. This fossil deposit con- 

 tains a mixed sample, as far as time of 

 deposition is concerned. Some of the 

 bones are reddish, and these Wakefield 

 believes to be the older specimens, pos- 

 sibly several thousand years old. Other 

 bones are white, and Wakefield gives 

 evidence that they are very recent, per- 

 haps only a few hundred years old or less. 

 This evidence led to informal specula- 

 tion on the possibility of the existence 

 of a living Burramys. 



The first Burramys materials obtained 

 for the Field Museum collections consist 

 of three tooth fragments and a complete 

 molar tooth from the Late Pliocene of 

 the Grange Burn, Hamilton Fauna that 

 Dr. E. L. Lundelius and I collected in 

 1963-64. This material is insufficient 

 to form the basis of a new species, but 

 nevertheless it is adequate to show the 

 unique ridging of the premolar teeth 

 which suggest that the material repre- 

 sents an undescribed species. The fauna 

 to which these four teeth belong has 

 been dated at 4.35 million years by the 

 potassium-argon method. Hence Bur- 

 ramys now has a time range of nearly 

 four and one-half million years, and a 

 geographic range that extends in an arc 

 from within 100 miles of Sydney in the 

 East to within about 150 miles of Ade- 

 laide in the West — a straight line dis- 

 tance of about 500 miles. 



In 1963 it was arranged through Mr. 

 Harold Fletcher, then the Assistant Di- 

 rector of the Australian Museum, Syd- 

 ney, that 185 unprepared Wombeyan 

 Cave travertine blocks belonging to that 

 institution be loaned to Field Museum 

 for preparation and study by Dr. Lun- 

 delius, myself and associates. Frederick 

 Schram and I have completed a prelim- 

 inary report on the first of the rodent re- 

 mains recovered from that fauna. Work 

 is going ahead on the other groups. The 

 entire lot of travertine blocks has been 

 acid prepared, leaving us with thousands 

 of bones, teeth and fragments for study. 

 Among these are additional unreported 

 specimens of Burramys parvus. 



Thus, the Museum is in a unique po- 

 sition of involvement with the work on 

 this little-known inammalian genus, and 

 the 1966 discovery gives us the great ad- 

 vantage of working from a live specimen 

 in addition to fossil remains. 



Pleistocene fossil Burramys 

 larvus known since 1895 

 redescribed in 1956 



Living Burramys found in 

 1966 



Post-Pleistocene fossil 

 Burramys reported in 

 1960 



Pliocene fossil Burramys 

 collected in 1963-1964, 

 reported in 1965 and 1967 



~1 



Each of the fossil Burramys specimens shown here are mounted on pins {the rough shafts 

 beneath the teeth). They are not all to the same magnification, but the common pin mount- 

 ings will serve to scale them. Top Row; Three of the oldest teeth {If.SS million years) re- 

 covered from a fossil soil near Hamilton Victoria. Two of them (left and center) are 

 partial lower premx>lars seen in side view, and the third is a complete upper molar seen in 

 crown view. Bottom; A left lower jaw of a Burramys parvus specimen from the Wom- 

 beyan Caves of New South Wales, the locality that yielded the original materials upon 

 which the genus was based. The relatively large incisor tooth and the distinctively ridged, 

 serrate premolar are clearly shown. 



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