19 lO J J 



Memoirs of the National Museum, Melbourne. — The 

 third number of this publication, dated February, 1910, is devoted 

 to two original joint articles by Prof. Baldwin Spencer, C.M.G., 

 M.A., Hon. Director of the Museum, and Mr. J. A. Kershaw, 

 F.E.S., curator of the zoological collections. The first article, 

 entitled " A Collection of Sub-fossil Bird and Marsupial Remains 

 from King Island, Bass Strait," is illustrated with eight plates. 

 In it the authors describe the results of the investigation of a 

 large number of bones of birds and animals found scattered over 

 an area of sandy country near Stokes Point, the south-western 

 extremity of King Island. When the party from the Field 

 Naturalists' Club visited the island in November, 1887, this area 

 was grass-covered, but later the introduction of sheep resulted in 

 the grass being eaten down to the roots ; afterwards pigs rooted 

 into the sandy soil, which then began to blow about, exposing 

 thousands of bones in various stages of preservation. As may be 

 expected, many of these rapidly disappeared on exposure to the 

 air, and, as it was some time before the occurrence of the bones 

 became known in scientific circles, many were doubtless lost 

 before any systematic collection was attempted. The authors, 

 hou^ever, have succeeded in piecing together a very interesting 

 account of the extinct fauna of the island. Naturally, the 

 greatest amount of space is devoted to the King Island Emu, 

 Dromceus minor, Spencer, about which a considerable amount of 

 uncertainty still exists, but the authors are of opinion that it was 

 a distinct bird from the Tasmanian Emu, unfortunately also 

 extinct, and round which quite as much uncertainty centres. 

 Full measurements are given of a large series of bones, many of 

 which have been reproduced in the accompanying plates. The 

 other extinct species dealt with are Phascolomys ursinus, Shaw, 

 the wombat of the Bass Strait islands (still living on Flinders 

 Island) and Dasyurus bowlinyi. The second article, by the same 

 authors, is entitled " The Existing Species of the Genus Phasco- 

 lomys." About the wombats almost as much uncertainty exists 

 as about the emus, and the authors seem to have so thoroughly 

 exhausted all the sources of information that little will remain 

 for future investigators. The conclusions arrived at are that four 

 species of existing wombats must be recognized, viz. : — i. 

 Phascolomys ursinus, Shaw, confined to the islands of Bass 

 Strait, and extinct, so far as known, except on Flinders Island, 

 where it is extremely rare. 2. P. mitchelli, Owen, the common 

 species of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. 

 3. P. latifrons, of South Australia and New South Wales (see 

 Vict. Nat., xxvi., p. 118) ; and 4. P. tasmaniensis, sp. n., which 

 has hitherto been regarded as P. ursioius of Shaw, but which 

 the authors point out differs in several particulars and is inter- 

 mediate in size between P. mitchelli and P. ursinus, the latter 

 being the smallest of the group. Three plates are devoted to 



