312 Mr. R. Etheridge, Jm\, on 



specimen, still in the Australian Museum. Sir Richard, 

 unfortunately, interchanged, the numbers of two of his 

 illustrations between the letter-press descriptions (p. 262) 

 and the figure numbers on his pi. xiii. thus : — 



For pi. xiii., fig. 12 read fig. 13. 

 >•> )> }> -i<3 •» )•> *-£' 



In his 'Researches on the Fossil Remains of the Extinct 

 Mammals of Australia/ &c. (1877) another interchange was 

 made, thus : — 



For pi. x. fig. 11 read pi. ix. fig. 12. 



5» )> }» *-" )} 5} ?5 ■*-"• 



There remains the smaller " distal phalanx" referred to 

 by Krefft in the ' Caves and Rivers Report.' This specimen 

 is 20 mm. long by 14 mm. in breadth, inclusive of the 

 sheath or hood, which is complete proximally, hut broken 

 away towards the distal end of the bone. It is similar in 

 shape to the nail-bone called Mijlodon by Krefft, but with a 

 greater degree of curvature, and less size. The articular 

 surface, just as in that previously referred to, occupies 

 nearly the whole of the proximal end, and is divided into 

 two subarticular surfaces by a median longitudinal ridge 

 for adaption to the convexities at the distal end of the 

 penultimate phalanx. The tuberous process for the flexor 

 tendon attachment is remarkably prominent and stout in 

 comparison to the size of the entire phalanx ; on the plantar 

 surface of this tuberosity are the two arterial foramina. 

 Krefft considered this to belong " to either a dog or cat-like 

 creature." 



With this last exception such are the phalanges described 

 by Krefft as Mylodon australis, a supposed Australian 

 Edentate, and referred by Owen to his Thylacoleo carnifex 

 by deduction. In considering the affinity of these bones, 

 the following general conclusions may, I think, be fairly 

 arrived at : — 



1. The law of probabilities is decidedly adverse to KreftYs 



view. Had an Edentate existed in Australia in 

 Post-Tertiary times, some more definite trace would 

 have been met with ere this. 



2. A right calcaneum, referred to this genus by Lydekker, 



is all we know of the feet of Thylacoleo, and this 

 determination is problematical*. 



* Lydekker, /<■><:'. cit. p. l!>"). 



