Remains of Extinct Kangaroo. 141 



A transverse section across the dune belt showing the shore 

 platform, and the position of the line of submerged rocks is given 

 below. The fossil described in this note came from the 

 position marked F. 



H.A r,u r^^^A^^.........^;;^! ^^^ ^""'^ '^"i- K 



In the absence of fossils we have only the scanty strati- 

 graphical evidence as to the age of the dune series. On this 

 ground Mr. Murray in his " Victoria. Geology and Physical 

 Geogi-aphy " (1895, p. 100), assigns the dunes to the "Post- 

 Tertiary age, some of them being of comparatively ancient and 

 others of quite recent date, or even now in process of formation." 

 This conclusion is certainly correct for the later limit of the 

 series ; for aboriginal kitchen-middens are being buried by the 

 dunes. These kitchen-middens consist of layers of shells, all of 

 edible mollusca ; the spiral gastropods have been broken at the 

 mouth, so that the body could be extracted ; the fractures are 

 due to direct blows and not to abrasion; the shells, moreover, are 

 embedded in a soil containing fragments of burnt wood and 

 charcoal. 



That the Sorrento dunes are therefore, in part, of recent date, 

 admits of no doubt ; but the age at which their formation 

 began is uncertain. Hence the discovery of a vertebrate fossil 

 in the lowest exposed part of the dune series is of interest. 



This fossil was discovered independently by Mr. T. W. Fowler 

 and Mr. 0. S. Price in 1 900. A broken tooth of it was extracted 

 by Mr. T. S. Hall, and is now in the National Museum. The 

 fossil was exposed at low tide on the surface of the shore plat- 

 form at Fowler's Cove, about three miles from Sorrento. As the 

 platform is being planed down by the surf, Mr. Fowler feared 

 that the fossil would be destroyed and he kindly invited me to 

 examine it with a view to securing it for the University collec- 

 tion. I accordingly visited the locality in March, 1901, with 

 Mr. Fowler, Mr. D. Le Soeuf, and Mr. F. J. Spry. The speci- 



