Tertiary.] PALEONTOLOGY OF VICTORIA, [Mammalia. 



PLATE LXL, FIGS. 1-4. 



CANIS DINGO (BLUMENBACH). 



THE DINGO. 



[Genus CANIS (LiNN.). (Sub.-kingd. Vertebrata. Class Mammalia. Order Ferae. Fam. 

 Canidae.) 



Gen. Char. Dental formula : i., . 8 ~~ 3 ; c., 1^ ; p.m., r ; m, H, =42. Small hind 



3 3 11 44 3 3 



tubercular molar of both jaws well developed. Anterior feet with five toes, hind feet with 

 usually four toes. Claws blunt, not retractile. Head moderate or elongate. Tail elongate, 

 curved.] 



DESCRIPTION. The most interesting and important of the specimens is that 

 represented by figures 2 and 2a in our plate, discovered by Mr. Adeney in the deposit 

 at Lake Colungulac, about 80 miles S.W. of Melbourne, in which he found, more 

 than thirty years ago, the first recorded example of the so-called Marsupial Lion, the 

 Thylacoleo carnifex, established by Professor Owen on his fossil. This is a small 

 portion of the left side of the lower jaw with a perfectly well preserved tooth, the 

 1st time molar (m. 1) which in all the species of Canis is modified to form the 

 opposing blade to the sectorial tooth of the upper jaw. The whole is mineralized in 

 exactly the same way with red ferruginous infiltrations as our specimens of Thyla- 

 coleo figured in our Plate XXI. from the same spot. The length of the crown is 1 

 inch ; height of principal cusp, 7 lines from its base j height of anterior cusp from its 

 base, 5 lines ; greatest thickness (between middle and anterior cusps), 5 lines ; 

 greatest thickness of posterior tritubercular talon, 5 lines ; height of outer posterior 

 tubercle of talon from its base, 4 lines j the 2 tubercles of posterior talon, and the 

 tubercle at inner base of principal cusp, are more prominent, and the latter more 

 posterior (so that the cusp line is more oblique), than in the usual living dogs ; this, 

 together with the slightly greater size of the whole tooth, less slender middle cusp, 

 anterior cusp directed more upwards or diverging less forwards than in the living 

 form, and the somewhat greater size and prominence of the posterior tubercles, mark 

 the var. fossilis of the C. dingo, which with its slightly greater depth of jaw under 

 this tooth (13 lines) is perceptibly more robust than the modern variety, in which 

 the length is 1^ lines less, and the middle cusp only 6 lines high ; and depth of 

 jaw 11 to 12 lines. Prof. Huxley's detailed measurements of various living species 

 of Canis (Proc. Zool. Soc. April 1880*) show that in each such differences of 

 measurement are indicative of varieties only, but the other differences I have 

 mentioned of proportion and direction of the cusps mark greater departures from the 

 type, although in these respects approaching more to the C. familiaris of the 

 English greyhound type. 



The next specimen (represented on our plate by fig. 3) is a portion of the right 

 side of the upper jaw, from a cave 5 miles S. by E. of Gisborne, containing the 2nd, 

 3rd, and 4th premolars (p. 2, p. 3, p. 4), the latter being the great sectorial tooth ; 

 behind which are the two true molars (m. 1, m. 2). The second premolar is 5^ lines 

 long, the principal cusp 3 lines high from its base, with two smaller cusps on the 

 posterior third of the compressed crown, the whole agreeing exactly with the 



* On the Cranial and Dental Characters of the Canids. 



[7] 



