3 o8 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



appetite of scientists, and even of the curious public, who have 

 no special knowledge of palaeontology, for more, will now be 

 reinforced by Dr. Stirling, Mr. Zietz, and another member of the 

 Museum staff. More than that, provision will now be made for 

 the conveyance to Adelaide of larger portions of the remains than 

 it has hitherto been possible to despatch. 



" Mr. Hurst has laboured under great disadvantages in the 

 past, owing to the lack of facilities for transporting to the city 

 the results of his excavations. It is to be borne in mind that the 

 fossils are spread over a large tract of country embracing several 

 square miles in extent. Moreover, this singular burial-place of 

 the marsupial and other monsters, which were wont to roam over 

 the continent of Australia, is situated in a remote and com- 

 paratively waterless region, so that the difficulties in the way of 

 disinterment and removal are exceedingly great. It is only 

 fitting that those officials of the Museum, who are most skilled 

 in natural history, should be on the spot to superintend operations, 

 and we may rest satisfied that everything that can be done to 

 secure the best illustrations obtainable of the fossil remains will 

 be done. The object to be aimed at is to procure complete 

 specimens, and, from what has been said by those who have 

 visited the locality, it should be practicable to achieve this. 

 Obviously no pains or expense should be spared to bring together, 

 bone to his bone, the framework of the gigantic creatures belong- 

 ing to a bygone age, whose relics are embedded in the hardened 

 mud and debris of what were once the huge swamps of the Far 

 North-East." 



The late Professor Newton, of Cambridge, also received a letter 

 from Dr. Stirling, which was published in The Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society for May 2, 1893. From this letter we learn 

 that Diprotodon has five well-developed toes; the bones of the 



