60 The South Australian Naturalist. 



where the bones of the diprotodon are to be found, and these 

 dingo tunnels are quite common on this particular lake. 



So far as I know, the only reason for doubting that the 

 dingo was "introduced" is the fact that Capt. S. A. White, in 

 his journeys to Mounts Musgrave and Everard, in Central Aus- 

 tralia, noted that the older female aboriginals had a custom of 

 carrying a dingo round the waist, also that the aboriginal has 

 its native name for dog. Now, knowing the habits of our 

 aboriginals fairly well, I am inclined to accept these facts as 

 strong evidence that the dingo was a native, or that the aborig- 

 inal always had dogs that became crossed with the dingo. The 

 aboriginals do not change their customs ; tliese are handed down 

 from generation to generation. 



I should be glad if the "Origin of the Dingo" was 

 thoroughly thrashed out. I am, unfortunately, much inter- 

 ested in this pest, or rather the destruction of it. If the dingoes 

 may properly be classed as a native fauna, they ought to be pro- 

 tected — yes, every one of them, safely, at the bottom of the 

 sea. 



Editor's Note: — A good, general description of the habits 

 and depredations of the dingo, with a detailed account of the 

 best methods of destroying this pest, is to be found in a recent 

 paper by Mr. A. S. Le Souef, of the Sydney Zoological 

 Gardens.* While sympathising with Mr. McGilp's point of 

 view regarding the destruction of this animal, it must be con- 

 fessed that to most of us, as naturalists, the more interesting 

 point is the academic one of when and how the dingo came to 

 Australia. 



The idea that the dingo was introduced into Australia by 

 the early Dutch navigators is new to me, and is not entertained 

 by those who have investigated this matter; there is ample evi- 

 dence that the dingo lived in Australia at times long prior to the 

 visits of these early explorers. The question of the mode and 

 date of the dingo's advent is one on which many and varied 

 opinions have been expressed ; it is closely bound up with the 

 still more obscure question of the antiquity of aboriginal man 

 in this continent. That the dingo did come to this land, as a 

 trespasser, there is not the slightest doubt. Except for a few 

 bats and other small eutherian (higher) mammals, the dingo 

 and man are the only eutherian mammals that were present 

 when the Avhite man took possession. The presence of the 

 bats, etc., presents no difficulty, but that of the aboriginal and 



*** Science and Industry," Vol. II., No. 2, Dec, 1920. 



