STUDIES IN TASMANIAN MAMMALS, LIVING AND EXTINCT. 7 



•combed with limestone caves, and that only a few have been 

 explored, and these only to a very limited extent, we can 

 form some idea of the work that remains to be done in 

 <!arrying out a systematic examination of the locality. Much 

 information concerning the mammalian fauna of Tasmania 

 is doubtless to be gained by an examination of the fossil 

 remains in these caves, and our present note is merely to 

 call attention to the need for this work to be carried out. 

 In illustration of the possibilities for useful scientific re- 

 search that these caves hold out to us, we may mention that 

 during December, 1914, we induced Mr. E. C. Clarke, of 

 Liena, to collect osteological specimens from such caves as 

 were immediately available to him, with the following re- 

 .sults : — 



(1) From a mass of material — amounting in the total to 



two sack loads — we, after the laborious process of 

 sorting and classifying, were able to show that the 

 conditions obtaining in these caves in times past were 

 similar to those of the great bone caves of England 

 and France. 



(2) That almost every animal living in Tasmania to-day 



was represented by osteological remains, in the upper 

 strata of these limestone caverns. 



-(3) That such evidence as the collection yielded all 

 tended to suggest that the Carnivorous marsupials 

 had dragged the Herbivorous animals into the caves 

 to feast upon their remains. In addition, the well-like 

 openings of certain of the caves doubtless served as 

 an effective trap, as any animals accidentally falling 

 down these would have no hope of returning to the 

 surface. 



(4) The deepest strata investigated supplied evidence of a 

 Wombat very closely akin to the Hairy-nosed Wom- 

 bat of South Australia. 



<5) Eye rings of an Owl showed that these birds found 

 homes in the caves, and doubtless joined issue with 

 the Carnivora in picking the bones. 



Some caves on Flinders Islands were (at our sugges- 

 tion) partly explored by Mr. Henwood in 1917, with the 

 result that such evidence as the material yielded proved to 

 be exactly similar data to that obtained at Mole Creek, and 

 suggested a common date of deposition of the superficial 

 strata. 



