£XISTING SPECIES OF THE GENUS PHASCOLOMYS: 
Nouvelle-Hollande.” In those early days, ideas with regard to 
Australian geography were naturally rather vague. Geoffroy says 
that the wombats were 17 inches long, but as they were young, 
there was reason to think that if the two that remained could be 
kept alive, they would reach the size of a badger. He also adds 
that they appear to be endowed with very little energy, they prefer 
to sleep during the day, and, like burrowing animals, search for their 
food at night time. 
In the same year, Desmarest mentioned the animal under the 
name of Wombattus fossor.* Tt is evident that he had not seen, or 
at least, carefully investigated a specimen. Sevastianof, writing 
in February, 1807, describes the skins of two quadrupeds sent to 
the Museum in St. Petersburg by a correspondent of the Academy, 
living in London, named Waxel.t One of these was a specimen of 
Dasyurus maculatus, the other was a species of wombat “ decouvert ” 
says Sevastianof, “ par les navigateurs anglois Bass et Flinders dans 
la nouvelle Galle du Sud.” He goes on to quote Desmarest’s de- 
scription of Wombatus fossor, and adds finally, “‘ Desmarest a rangé ce 
quadrupede dans le méme ordre et sous-ordre, que Dasyure tacheté. 
Tl est carnassier par ce qu’il a six incisives et deux canines a chaque 
machoire.” Sevastianof had only a skin, of which he gives a very 
fair figure, and it is evident that Desmarest’s name was applied in 
the first instance to the specimen secured by Bass. 
In 1807 there appeared also the first edition of the first volume 
of the letterpress of Péron’s Voyage; the atlas to this appeared 
in 1808.¢ In the first edition, there appears a plate,§ drawn by 
Lesueur, with the following legend—* Nouvelle-Hollande : ile King. 
Le wombat (Phascolomys wombat).” Good drawings are given of a 
light and dark variety of the animal, together with four young ones. 
The letterpress describes how four naturalists, including Péron and 
Lesueur, were left stranded on King Island, when a violent gale forced _ 
the exploring vessels to stand out to sea. The naturalists were hospi- 
tably entertained by some English sealers, the leader of whom was 
a man named Cowper, from whom they gathered many particulars 
concerning especially the emu that then existed in large numbers 
on the island. Unfortunately, beyond describing how Cowper and 
his associates had domesticated the wombats, which went out during 
the day-time to feed in the scrub and returned at night-time to the 
huts, and describing also the value of the animal as an article of food, 
* Desmarest. N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., xxiv., p. 14. We have unfortunately been unable to 
refer to this work and give the reference according to Sevastianof. 
+ Sevastianof. Mem. del Acad. de St. Petersbourg, i., 1807, p. 443. Plate 17. 
t Péron et Freycinet. Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes. The rdied Sy and 
atlases were issued separately. Of the two volumes of letterpress, the first edited by Péron 
appeared in 1807, the second edited first by Péron, and, after his death, continued by Freycinet, 
appeared in 1816. The first part of the atlas, with forty-one plates of views and illustrations of 
Natural History objects by Lesueur and Petit appeared in 1808, the second part, edited by 
Freycinet, containing fourteen charts, appeared in 1811. A second edition of part i. of the atlas, 
containing sixty-eight plates, appeared in 1824. 
§ Plate 28. In the second edition it is plate 58. 
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