STUDIES IN TASMANIAN MAMMALS, LIVING AND 

 EXTINCT. 



Number IV. , 



THE CAVE DEPOSITS AT MOLE CREEK. 

 By 



H. H. Scott, Curator, Launceston Museum, 



and 



Clive Lord, Curator, Tasmanian Museum. 



(Read 13th June, 1921.) 



Through the courtesy of the Director of the Tasmanian 

 Government Tourist Bureau (Mr. E. T. Emmett), we have 

 recently had the opportunity of visiting two of the caves at 

 Mole Creek, and obtaining a number of specimens relating 

 to the mammalian fauna of Tasmania. Higgins and Petterd 

 (1883) drew attention to the osteological remains in these 

 caves, and they were later noted by Johnston (1888). Very 

 little attention appears to have been paid zo this locality by 

 subsequent investigators, and we, therefore, desire to sub- 

 mit this short preliminary note to the Society in the hope 

 that further investigations will be made. In the near future 

 we hope to obtain a second and deeper series of specimens, 

 and then to transmit to the Society a paper dealing with the 

 material in general. Until we obtain a longer and older 

 series of specimens than we have at present, we prefer to 

 treat the matter on very general lines. 



The two caves visited were Baldock's Cave and King 

 Solomon's Cave. In the latter there are many specimens. 

 The more recent are quite free, but the older ones have be- 

 come encrusted with a thick limestone stalactitic coating, or 

 else have become completely covered. In some cases the 

 floors of certain of the caverns are practically bone breccia. 

 Careful research may yield much of interest, for it is not 

 improbable that some remains of Thylacoleo should be in 

 these caves, if that marsupial lion ever inhabited Tasmania. 

 Considering the knowledge we have recently gained in rela- 

 tion to the habitats of N ototheriiim, there is no reason to 

 exclude the possibility of Thylacoleo being found. 



We have only had time to examine a small section of the 

 caves mentioned, and that only in a very superficial manner. 

 When we consider that the Mole Creek district is honey-- 



