Diprotodon australis near Melbourne. 113 



tooth is clearly shown by the impression on the walls of the 

 socket. The lower incisor teeth of this species, as described 

 by the late Sir Richard Owen, are indicated as being nearly 

 straight, with a length of ten inches, two-thirds of which is 

 lodged in socket, and a transverse breadth of one inch four 

 lines. 



The four molar teeth in the present example occupy about 

 seven and a quarter inches of the length of the jaw. There 

 appears to be no trace of the premolar tooth, but the first molar 

 can be recognised by its roots in the jaw, indicating a tooth of 

 about one inch and a half in length. The second molar is much 

 broken, the damage having been done by a pick, but appears one 

 inch and three-quarters long. The third molar is two and a 

 quarter inches in length by about one and a quarter to one and a 

 half inches broad, and the fourth molar is about the same size. 

 These dimensions seem to me to be in very close agreement with 

 those originally given by Sir R. Owen for Diprotodon australis, 

 and I therefore identify this jaw as representing his species. 



Figures and descriptions of the teeth and other remains of 

 this species may be seen in Sir Richard Owen's work entitled 

 " Researches on the Fossil Remains of the Extinct Mammals of 

 Australia," published in 1877, Plates XIX., XXTII., XXVI., 

 and XXVII., dealing with the above. Sir R. Owen there 

 records D. australis, from a gravel bed in the Melbourne District 

 collected by Dr. E. C. Hobson ; also from a freshwater deposit 

 in the Province of Victoria, near Melbourne. These localities, 

 however, are so indefinite that they are practically useless. 



The present example was found in a tunnel excavation under 

 the Moonee Ponds Creek near Arden-street, North Melbourne, 

 the depth of the tunnel below the present bed of the creek being 

 approximately 25ft., or 35ft. below the surface, the exact spot 

 being indicated on the accompanying plan. The matrix in which 

 the bone was found is a sandy clay of a fawn to brownish colour, 

 containing glassy quartz grains up to one-sixteenth of an inch in 

 diameter — some well rounded, while others are sub-angular — and 

 small flakes of a white mica, apparently muscovite. 



The discovery of this specimen in this locality is of special 

 interest and importance on account of its bearing on the 



