January i8, 1900] 



NA TURE 



277 



terminating in ungual phalanges. Passing to the hind 

 foot (Fig. 2), the most superficial glance at once proclaims 

 it a marsupial limb, begotten, as Huxley has so strongly 

 argued for that of the order (in which he has been 

 recently supported by Dollo\ of an arboreal type. The fix- 

 ation of the sole remaining element of the hallux ( i ) in ex- 

 treme abduction, the slenderness of the digits 2-3, sugges- 

 tive at first sight of syndactyly, are among its most con- 

 spicuous features ; indeed, our authors believe the latter 

 process to have involved even the fourth digit as well, 

 but of this we do not see the proof. The immense pro- 

 portions of the calcaneum (ai.), and the surmounting of 

 this by the astragalus i^as) which alone furnishes the 

 ankle joint, are conspicuous features of this very remark- 

 able limb ; but that which is most striking is the enormous 

 expansion of the fifth metatarsal (5) to an extent un- 

 paralleled by any other known marsupial form, that 

 element being so modified as to furnish a base of support 

 for the outer border of the limb. Diprotodon is 

 further unique among all known marsupials for the like 



liG. ■2.—Diprotodon aus/ralis, skeleton of right hind-foot, dorsal aspect, 

 i natural size. 



modification of its corresponding metacarpal (5, Fig. i). 

 As concerning the hind-limb, the inward and upward 

 enlargement of the navicular (nv.), which the element 

 termed by the authors entocuneiform {vis. en.) is seen 

 to have also undergone, would seem to us to suggest a 

 similar supportmg function for the inner border of the 

 limb, and to explain the presence of only the tarsal 

 element of the hallux (i) in its greatly developed form — 

 that bone and the inner lobe of the navicular being 

 apparently together specialised for purposes of support. 

 .And we are led to surmise that in this there may lie the 

 due to the reduction of the middle digits, rather than 

 in a supposed syndactyly. 



Considerable interest attaches to the discovery of an 

 r-'-f trii^onum, wedged in between the tibia and fibula and 

 tlie astragalus. It is unfortunate that our authors term 

 this the " OS pyramidale," apparently by comparison with 

 the "pyramidale," discovered by Owen in the Wombat, 

 to which they do not however allude. To it the comment 



NO. 1577, VOL. 61] 



we have made on the " scaphoid sesamoid " may equally 

 be applied. But two cuneiforms are described as 

 separate elements in the text and indicated in the plates, 

 labelled ecto- and ento-cuneiform respectively, thus lead- 

 ing to the supposition that the meso-cuneiform may be 

 absent. The authors, however, point to details which 

 justify their regarding the latter bone as a compound 

 (as indicated in our revised lettering) of the ento- and 

 meso-cuneiform, in itself a unique feature of the genus ; 

 and it is a great pity that this is not rendered evident on 

 the plates, in which the lettering indicative of the ento- 

 is placed on the meso-cuneiform, to an utter confusion 

 of ideas. 



Beyond this we have no remarks which are critical, 

 and we reserve comment on the authors' views concern- 

 •ng the position of the genus in the marsupial series until 

 "iheir later memoirs appear. Certain it is that the pos- 

 session of these magnificent remains will render the 

 .South Australian Museum famous, in the manner that the 

 Munich Museum is for its Pterodactyles, the Brussels for 

 its Iguanodons and Mosasaurs, the Yale for its Ungulates 

 and Toothed Birds ; and we consider it incumbent on the 

 authors, having so successfully overcome the difficulties 

 of transport and preservation, that they will close their 

 series of memoirs on Diprotodon with a careful recon- 

 structional drawing of the entire skeleton, and render it 

 possible, in the interests of science, for others to obtain a 

 corresponding papier-mache restoration, as has been so 

 successfully done with Marsh's Dinocerata, or a cast, as 

 with Dollo's Iguanodons. 



Upon the acquisition of these treasures our Australian 

 confreres are to be congratulated ; and it is opportune to 

 point out that the event marks but one of a series of 

 recent great advances in our knowledge of the 

 unexplored interior of that continent, in which Prof. 

 Stirling has played a not unimportant part. Chief 

 among those, however, whose names will live in the 

 annals of later Central Australian investigation is his co- 

 explorer. Prof. Baldwin Spencer, of Melbourne. Of his 

 scientific attainments and enterprise, as exhibited in his 

 conduct of and contributions to the Horn Expedition, 

 and his recently published book in conjunction with Mr. 

 Gillen on the Arunta Tribes, no praise can be too high. 

 Not content with this, he has recently accepted office, in 

 succession to the late Sir W. M'Coy, as Director of the 

 Melbourne Museum ; and in so doing, to his brilliant 

 reputation as a teacher, scientific investigator and ex- 

 plorer, he has added fame as a Museum Curator, for, fired 

 Ijya whole-souled enthusiasm which has characterised his 

 previous acts, he has foregone remuneration and taken 

 office as Hon. Director, in order that the money available 

 may be applied to bettering the position of the assistant 

 he found in charge, and the providing of additional aid in 

 the momentous task of reorganisation upon which he has 

 resolved. He thus becomes at once a Trustee and Hon. 

 Director, and using his influence with the Government, 

 he has already obtained a grant of 13,000/. for building 

 purposes, and has in course of construction a spacious 

 hall of some 150 -f no feet in area. The collections, 

 rich both in materials and literature, have been found to 

 include three of du Chaillu's original adult gorillas, an 

 entire Nestor prodticfus, a very fine Aepyornis egg, a 

 good series of .Antelopes, and a ninety-foot Whale's 

 Skeleton. Already a considerable rearrangement has 

 been effected ; a group of giraffes, a case of lyre birds 

 with nest and dancing ground, another of megapodes, of 

 albatross with the parent on a genuine nest, all 

 mounted after the fashion of the exhibits in our own 

 Natural History Museum (amidst natural surroundings, 

 as was first done for birds in the famous Booth collection 

 at Brighton), are examples foreshadowing a complete 

 transformation, under which a geographical arrange- 

 ment will, give place to a zoological and more scien- 

 tific. The cases are, however, lacking in Australian 



