INTRODUCTION. 23 



sphere and are not found in the other j and it is not often that 

 even the great Cetaceans occur in both. Neither do the Seals : 

 the equatorial region separates them most completely ; that is, no 

 species is common alike to the north and the south. I do not 

 consider that either the Australian Cetacea or Phocida have been 

 well made out, and this certainly is the part of the mammalian 

 fauna of that country of which we know the least. I have 

 omitted the former altogether, but it will be seen that I have 

 figured two of the latter ; these constitute two genera {Steno- 

 rhynchus and Arclocejj/talus) ; they both inhabit the shores and 

 rocky islands of the southern portion of Australia, while the 

 Dugong {Halicore australis) is, as far as I am aware, a native of 

 the east coast only. 



Whether the Canis Dingo be really indigenous, or has at some 

 very remote period followed man in his migrations, is a question 

 on which naturalists are at variance. For my own part, I am 

 inclined to the latter theory, as being the most philosophic mode 

 of accounting for its j)resence there. That Man is the latest 

 visitant to the soil of Australia there can be little doubt : the 

 country is far too sparsely provided with fruits and other sub- 

 stances necessary for his existence to favour a contrary hypo- 

 thesis. 



In the following list of the Australian Mammals I shall 

 refer to the volumes in which they are contained and to the 

 plates on which they are respectively figured, and shall more- 

 over give any additional information I may have acquired 

 respecting them, together with an account of the new species 

 which have been described by other writers, but which, 

 from my not having been able to see examples, 1 have not 

 fig-ured. 



