BY FKITZ NOETLING, M.A., PH.D. 113 



If we muster the animals of Tasmania we find that the 

 lai'ge four-footed animals so abundant in Europe are totally 

 absent. There are only two animals in which the four 

 extremities are well recognisable to the eye, viz., the Tas- 

 manian tiger (Thylacinus) and the Tasmanian devil (Sarco- 

 piiiiui. ursinusj. In the wombat (Phascolomys wombat) the 

 extremities are very short, almost hidden by the body, and 

 the kangaroo, either resting, but particularly when chased, 

 looks more like a two-footed animal than a four-footed one. 



Among the birds, the now extinct emu, with its sharp 

 beak, must have been a conspicuous object. I hardly need 

 to say that the snake, so common in Tasmania, must have 

 been an object of teri'or to these naked savages. 



Last, but not least, there are those specimens which 

 suggest the profile line of a human face, which certainly 

 represent a remarkable feature. When a child draws a 

 human face in profile the most conspicuous part besides the 

 circular head is the nose, added in the shape of a triangle. 

 The specimens here described show this feature in a marked 

 way, and, as I said above, it is impossible to suppress the 

 notion that these specimens really represent what they 

 appear to be. 



Whether the hypothesis here promulgated be correct 

 or not, one fact appears to be pretty certain, the outline 

 of these specimens is not accidental, but the result of 

 deliberate work, with the intention to produce a certain 

 shape. 



PI. XVIII. 



This is the finest specimen which, so far, has come 

 under my notice. It measures 100 mm. in length, and its 

 greatest height is 71 mm. The thickness i.s small, the 

 greatest thickness barely exceeding 10 mm. 



The rock used is a fine grained hornstone, of dark grey 

 colour, apparently finely stratified. It is covered w'^ 

 rather a thick patina of light grey colour, having a yellow- 

 ish tinge. The outline of this specimen cannot be better 

 described than representing that of an animal, having a 

 thick body, a rather short, but thickly-set, head, and short, 

 squat legs, and the posterior portion of the body shortly 

 rounded off. 



The upper edge forms almost a straight line, and is 

 very carefully chipped from the posterior end to the middle 



