78 STUDIES IN TASMANIAN MAMMALS, LIVING AND EXTINCT, 



no man upon earth knew more of Diprotodon than Doctor 

 Stirling did, so if the skull, ' in 'toto, was unknown to him, 

 we can with confidence conclude that an uncrushed speci- 

 men would reveal now truths to us. 



THE OSTEOLOGY OF TPIE NASAL PLATFORM. 



That the wonderfully supported, and under-propped 

 nasal platform of the Nototherian skull was indicative of a 

 nasally implanted weapon, was first suggested by Pro- 

 fessor D. M. S. Watson, M.Sc, of the University College, 

 London < 2 ). To the objection that the nasal and cervical! 

 regions of Nototherium tasmanicum were too weak to have 

 sustained any serious shock, Professor Watson contended 

 that the weapon might have taken the form of a pair of 

 nasal bosses. With the discovery of the skull and parts 

 of the skeleton of Nototherium mitchelli, all objections to 

 the former existence of a nasal hern wore immediately re- 

 moved — since the more solidly built cervicals, wider and 

 stronger nasal platform, and manifestly superior deposi- 

 tion of bony matter upon the nasal regions generally, 

 spoke eloquently of the fact. The taxonomists of past 

 days made features of the extent to which the nasal bones 

 covered the nasal aperture, but as will now be shown, ex- 

 cept in the most perfectly preserved crania, this charac- 

 ter is not to be trusted, since the nasal cartilage was at- 

 tached to the nasal bones in a manner wholly peculiar, 

 and as we said in cur original note, as an obvious adapta- 

 tion to the special needs of the case. In Nototherium 

 mitchelli, the ends of the nasal bones are 25 mm. thick, 

 and upon either side of the middle line the thickness 

 of this bone is first scooped cut into a deep fossa, and 

 then filled in with a bony stud, capable of movement 

 within the fossa ! A popular illustration of the result 

 thus obtained would be found in the rotation of a baga- 

 telle ball, in its cup-shaped socket upon the board. We 

 can note grades of this adaptation in the following con- 

 nection : — Nototherium mitchelli was a square mouthed 

 animal, but, unlike the square mouthed rhinoceros »of to- 

 day, had front teeth and well-developed fangs. Such 

 fangs, when in use, would need to be set free from the 

 heavy overhanging lip ( 3 >, and as the distance between 

 the end of the nose and the base of the horn was a short 

 one, a fixed nasal cartilage would not have permitted of 



(2) Vide Monograph of Nototherium tasmanicum, page 42, et seq. 



(3) The extent of this lip may be gathered from the fact that the 

 pre-alveolar extension of the tusks, from that process, to the gum line, 

 amounts to 45 mm., practically a basal attachment far an incipient 

 trunk. 



