Tertiary.] PALEONTOLOGY OF VICTORIA. [Mammalia. 



the others ; anterior lobe large ; posterior lobe almost obsolete ; length, 6 lines j 

 width, 3 lines ; height of middle cusp, 6 lines. 



In. lines. 



Total length of skull ... ... ... ... 6 7 



Width of skull ... ... ... ... ... 4 2 



Width between orbits ... ... ... ... 1 10 



Width in temporal regions ... ... ... ... 8 



Length of nasal bones ... ... ... ... 2 



Width of nasal bones, behind ... ... ... ... 8 



Width of nasal bones, in front ... ... ... 5 



Length of palate ... ... ... ... ... 2 11 



Width of palate between hindmost molars ... ... 20 



Length of posterior palatine openings ... ... ... 7 



Length of four true molars taken together ... ... 1 7 



Length of lower jaw from back of condyle ... ... 4 6 



Height of lower jaw from apex of coronoid process ... 2 1 



Depth of lower jaw under first molar ... ... ... 9 



All these measurements are identical with those of skull of same size of recent examples. 



The genus Sarcophilus differs mainly from the true Dasyuri, or 

 " Native Cats," by the thick, short body, and the smaller and less 

 hairy tail ; the enormous width of the skull, with its greatly 

 extended zygomatic arches, indicative of its Hyaena-like bone- 

 crushing power, and the close crowding of the premolars, and their 

 not being compressed, but as thick transversely as in the antero- 

 .posterior length, as well as the less development of the slightly 

 bifid posterior lobe of the lower molars, and their wanting the 

 inner middle cusps, are characters enabling the palaeontologist to 

 discriminate the genera by the bones and teeth. 



It is a very curious circumstance that I find the skulls and 

 teeth of the "Tasmanian Devil," Sarcophilus ur sinus (Har.) very 

 common in the most recent Tertiary clays, and in the various 

 ossiferous caves of Victoria, perfectly identical in all respects, on 

 the most careful comparison, with the corresponding parts of the 

 individuals now living in Tasmania ; while there is not a trace 

 of the species now living, or evidence of its having existed, on the 

 continent during the modern period. It is still common in 

 Tasmania, although much persecuted, and how or why it became 

 extinct in the much more extended mainland on which it abounded 

 in the Pleistocene period is quite inexplicable at present. 



The beautifully perfect skull figured on Plate LXII. was 

 forwarded to me for the Museum by Dr. Williams from the sandy 

 beds intercalated with the Pliocene Tertiary limestone near Queens- 

 cliff, in which the extinct Eared Seal, Arctocephalus Williamsi 

 (McCoy) and the extinct Wombat, Phascolomys pliocenus (McCoy) 



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