2 20 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



no longer exists, speculation on its history seems 

 useless. The Leyden collection in 1827 included 

 two skulls of the thylacine and also a pair 

 of adult animals ; these most interesting specimens 

 described by Temminck are still (1905) in the 

 Museum. In 1827, also, another thylacine was 

 in the cabinet of "M. Brocks" (doubtless Mr. Joshua 

 Brookes, whose museum was sold in 1828-30). 

 This specimen is probably lost. Finally, in 1839, 

 the Zoological Society's Museum had two stuffed 

 thylacines, one presented by Mr. Charles Barclay 

 and the other by Mr. George Everett. 



The gradual colonisation of Tasmania rendered 

 the thylacine an object of interest to the settlers, and 

 especially to those who kept sheep ; their interest, 

 though deep and fervent, was by no means of the 

 academical order. Widely distributed throughout 

 the rocky glens and mountains of the island, the 

 tiger wolf abounded in the colony, preying on the 

 brush wallabies and similar quarry, and braving with 

 impunity the frosts and snows of this austral Switzer- 

 land. The normal range of the thylacine extends 

 up to at least 4,000 feet ; it is a mountain, indeed 

 alpine, species — a fact not sufficiently recognised in 

 text books. Some natural histories describe this 

 mountain dweller as frequenting the shore, apparently 

 from confusion with the Tasmanian devil which 

 Harris really observed in such situations. It would 

 have been interesting to have compared the thylacine 



