15S On some zoological Fads 



occiipic?, with its feroclau'? tribes, tlie whole of the im- 

 iDcn.sc coasts of New Holland, from Cape Wilson to the 

 burning coasts of tlie land of Arnheim and the great gulf 

 of Carpentaria. 



Anoilier zoological fact tends still further to confirm this 

 thslinction, if not primitive at least very old, between New 

 HoHnnd and Van Dieraen's Land. The dog, that animal 

 so valdal)ic to n)an, the faithi'ul companion of his misfor- 

 tuncs, his travels, and daui^'ers, the mdoiatigabie instrument 

 of his dist.uit hUntino; excursions, every where so eon)mon 

 on the conunmitj and which wc found on all its coasts with 

 tlie dilfercnt hordes we had an opportunity of seeing, does 

 not exist in Van Diemen's Land ; at least we could observe 

 no traces of this animal. Vv'^e never saw any of them with 

 the iuintbitanls, not-vvithstaadiug our daily intercourse with 

 them. The case was the same with M. I>abillardicre during 

 Dentrecasteaux's voyage; and it does not appear that any 

 other travcijer ever saw any. The English whale fishers, 

 •whom i consulted on the subject, contirmed this circum- 

 stance, that the dog is not found in Van Diemen's Land. 



Section II. 



Zcmlosical Observations ivJuch seem, to iiidlcale that the 

 Sf/7iiviiis of the Mountains of p'aa Diemen's Land, Neif 

 Holland, and Timor, were formerly covered hij the Sea. 



One of the noblest and at the same time most incontest- 

 able results of modern geological researchers is, the certainty 

 of the sea having once stood at very considerable elevations 

 above its present level. In almost every point of the old 

 continent the proofs of this fact are as numerous as they arc 

 evident. They appear with iirferest in different parts of tlic 

 new world ; and M. Kumboldt has lately communicated to 

 us a verv curious circunjstance of this kind. In this point 

 of view, as well as in many others. New Holland and Van 

 Diemen's Land remained to be examined ; as tlicy might 

 have formed an exception of sufficient importance to induce 

 a very rigorous philosopher to deny the universality of the 

 imticnt domination of the ocean^ however favourable reason- 

 ing and analogy might be to it. Fortunately this deficiency 

 was one of those which, depending only on the existence of 

 a fact, could be easily supplied ; it appears to me that it is 

 completelv so at present. On Van Diemen's Land indeed, 

 on several points of New Holland, and on the summits ot 

 the mountains of Timor, I every where met with those va- 

 luable remains, which may be considered as irrefragable tes- 

 timonies of the revolutions of nature. 



In 



