Tertiary."] PALAEONTOLOGY OF VICTORIA. [Mammalia. 



mineralized remains of Thylacoleo, Diprotodon, Nototherium, Pro- 

 coptodon, and other extinct genera, therefore excited great interest, 

 as proving that the Dingo was really one of the most ancient of the 

 indigenous mammals of the country, and abounded as now most 

 probably long before man himself appeared. The Dingo, in fact, 

 as Bell* remarks, is an example of a dog more removed from all the 

 influences of domestication than any other, and the above-mentioned 

 discovery of its remains in strata with so many extinct genera 

 establishes it as by far the most ancient of any of the living species 

 of Dogs. The savage temper, want of general attachment to man, 

 and the bushy tail, show departures from the characteristics of the 

 ordinary Dogs towards those of the Wolves, from which the 

 European domestic Dog most probably originated ; but in the small 

 structural details of the skull, &c., which distinguish these two 

 groups of the Canidce, the Dingo is a true Deg of the genus Canis 

 in all respects. The Dingo not barking nor growling when vexed 

 or teased is another suggested evidence of the Dingo being a good 

 distinct species, peculiar to Australia. The Palaeontology of Dogs 

 is so little known that some years ago it was thought there were no 

 fossil Dogs, but now remains have been found in the bone caves of 

 Brazil by Lund of genera and species of Canidce resembling existing 

 South American types ; and in France M. Pomel has a Pliocene 

 Tertiary Canis, his C. megamastoides (=C. Borbonidus) from 

 Cerde", Jssoire ; and M. Filleol has a series of French Upper Eocene 

 Tertiary Dogs of the genus Cynodictis, which give the greatest 

 antiquity known for the family Canidce. Our present species, 

 although still living in great numbers, I have no doubt dates from 

 the Pliocene Tertiary time, and I find, on the most minute 

 comparison and measurements, no difference between the fossil and 

 the recent individuals, either of the adult age or of the younger 

 periods before the milk teeth were shed to give place to the 

 permanent premolar teeth. 



In Professor Huxley's paper "On the Cranial and Dental 

 Characters of the Canidce " (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 6th April 

 1880) a curious character may be noted in favor of my conviction 



* History of British Quadrupeds. 



DEC. vn. [ 9 ] 



