BY GERARD KllEFFT. 3 



nals could exterminate the breed : which no doubt is also 

 maintained by stray shepherds' dogs not all the so-called 

 Dingos being of the pure " Warrigal " blood. 



There is a black and tan coloured variety. Various litters 

 taken by myself had generally four pups, sometimes a pair 

 of each colour. The natives, who hate the Dingo most cordially 

 for his living on the fat of the land, kill him on every opportunity 

 and eat ^is flesh, which is by no means of ill flavour, though 

 I have partaken of it under stress of hunger, and I will not 

 vouch that I should sit down to roast Dingo with the same gusto 

 now as ten years ago in the Murray scrub. 



A question has been raised as to the origin of the Dingo in 

 Australia, and several high authorities are of opinion that the dog 

 was introduced there by man ; if so, this must have been at a 

 very remote age, as the first molar tooth of a dog has been found 

 with other fossil remains in the breccia of the Wellington caves. 



In those days of Diprotodons, not only did the Dingo exist, 

 but also some of the animals now restricted to the island of 

 Tasmania, as Tliylacinus and Sarcophilus, teeth of which I have 

 discovered in the same breccia, and which are now on view at 

 the Australian Museum. 



RODENTIA. 



The third group of the Australian Mammalia consists of the 

 Rodents, which are largely represented, and, to some extent, par- 

 take of the structure of the Kangaroo ; many having their hind 

 limbs much elongated, and moving by a succession of jumps, in 

 which they use the hind legs only. A few (4 species) are 

 aquatic (Hydromys), expert swimmers and diners, and a great 

 many are arboreal, and apparently the representatives of the 

 squirrels in Australia. 



All the species observed by me on the Lower Murray, are 

 strictly nocturnal, and all bring forth 4 young ones (born blind) 

 at a time. 



1. HYDROMYS CHRYSOGASTER. 

 Golden-bellied Beaver Rat. 



All the specimens of this rat procured by me are from Gun- 

 bower Creek and Lake Boga, where this animal is very plentiful. 



