44 Mahony, Bones, &-c., near Warrnambool. [vol"^'xxix.. 



Scapula. 

 (?) Canis vulpes, i specimen . . . . . . Fox. 



Mr. Kershaw, in his note accompanying tlie hst, remarks that 

 the bones " are all in a more or less fragmentary condition and 

 considerably affected by long exposure to the weather, so that 

 it is impossible to determine the species of many of them. 

 This particularly applies to the Macropus jaws, which represent 

 two, possibly three, species, all living forms, and comparable 

 with M. hillardieri (the Rufous-bellied Wallaby) and M. 

 giganteus. The most interesting example in the collection is 

 that of the right mandible of Sarcophilus nrsimis. which, from 

 its appearance, is very recent. The single scapula belongs to a 

 carnivore, and I have little doubt is that of a fox. The jaws 

 of Pseudochirus peregrinus I have queried on account of their 

 imperfect condition, although I have little doubt they belong 

 to this species. The skull of the rat is very recent, dried pieces 

 of the flesh still being attached." 



All the animals in the abov^e list are still living in Victoria 

 except the Tasmanian Devil, and they are all indigenous except 

 the fox. The association of the Tasmanian Devil with the 

 other marsupial and human remains is particularly interesting, 

 for this animal is now extinct on the Australian continent, and 

 is confined to Tasmania as a living species. 



All the available evidence points to the very recent age of 

 these bones. They are all quite unfossilized, and are not 

 encrusted with lime from the calcareous dune sand, but have 

 the appearance of bones exposed for a few years to the weather. 

 Many of the bone implements, human bones, and rabbit bones 

 are more decomposed than those collected for identification. 

 The rabbit is, of course, an importation of a few years ago, and 

 all the kitchen middens appear to be fairly modern, for they 

 rest on the superficial layers of the sand dunes, and where the 

 deeper parts of these dunes have been exposed by the wind 

 there are no remains of animal or man so far as could be seen. 

 It is also very unlikely that bones exposed to the conditions 

 prevailing in this locality would be preserved for any con- 

 siderable time, even if they were covered with loose porous 

 sand. It would appear then that the Tasmanian Devil survived 

 till a very late i)eriod in this part of Victoria, and that it 

 was contemporaneous with the Australian aborigine. It may 

 possibly have been exterminated l)y some such natural cause 

 as that which attacked and destroyed in such numbers the 

 Native Cat some years ago. 



The fossil remains of the Tasmanian Devil from ('am])er- 

 down, Oueenscliff, J^aringhup, and Gisborne are exhil)ited in 

 the National Museum collection. At Gisborne the bones were 

 found in a cave in the Newer Basalt, during the geological 



