SUB-FOSSIL REMAINS FROM KING ISLAND. 
described the two latter are also distinct from one another, though 
at the same time they are more closely allied than is the Bass 
Strait Island Wombat to either of them.” 
It is therefore necessary to distinguish specifically the two forms 
which up to the present time have been united under the name of 
of Phascolomys ursinus. As this was, without any doubt, applied 
in the first instance to the particular form secured on Clarke 
Island, sent to England by Hunter, and named Didelphys ursina 
by Shaw, we retain the specific name wisivus for the Bass Strait 
Island species, and redescribe the distinct Tasmanian species under 
the name of Ph. tasmaniensis. 
It is an interesting fact that the first reliable drawings of a 
Wombat, those in the Atlas to Péron’s work represent the King 
Island species, and further that one of the earliest descriptions of 
the anatomy of any species of the genus was based upon a specimen 
taken to London by the distinguished. naturalist, R. Brown, who 
secured it on one of the Bass Strait Islands.; Sir Everard Home, 
when describing the anatomy of this specimen, says that it lived 
in captivity with him for two years, and “Jt appeared to have 
arrived at its full growth, weighed about twenty pounds, and was 
about two feet two inches long.” 
In addition to the sub-fossil specimens from King Island our 
original collection included a skull from Deal Island, indistinguish- 
able from the King Island skulls. For the purpose of procuring, 
if possible, material from the Furneaux Group, of which Clarke 
Island, the habitat of the first found Wombat, forms a part, one of 
“us paid a visit to Flinders Island, the largest of the group, and 
made the interesting discovery that the small Wombat, though rare, 
is not yet actually extinct. Further reference to this is made ina 
separate article. Here it will suffice to say that the Deal, 
Flinders and King Island skulls ave identical. Deal, Flinders, 
Clarke, and Cape Barren Islands, form parts of a chain of 
islands stretching across the eastern entrance to Bass Strait, 
whilst King Island lies far away on its western margin. It would 
be, at least, a most curious thing if the Deal, Flinders, and King 
Island wombats were identical, as they are, and at the same time 
distinct from those of Clarke and Cape Barren Islands. 
We have therefore decided to retain Shaw’s specific name 
ursinus for the Wombat of the Bass Strait Islands. Though much 
has been written about it, and it is the oldest known species, 
it has for many years been confused with the quite distinct Tas- 
manian form, and it is doubtful if any well authenticated skin of it 
is in existence, except two recently secured on Flinders Island. 
* It is a somewhat remarkable fact that both the King Island Emu and Wombat are more 
distinct from the mainland and Tasmanian forms than the two latter are from one another. 
+Home. Phil. Trans., 1808, p. 304. ‘‘An account of some Peculiarities in the 
anatomical structure of the Wombat, &c.” 
[ 28 J 
