838 DR.J.MURIE ON THE SPECIES OF PHASCOLOMYS. [Dec. 12, 
18. ON THE IDENTITY oF THE Harry-NoseD Wombat (PHasco- 
LOMYS LASIORHINUS, GOULD) WITH THE BROAD-FRONTED 
Womaar (P. Latirrons, OWEN), WITH FURTHER OBsEeRva- 
TIONS ON THE SEVERAL SPECIES OF THIS GENUS. By 
James Murir, M.D., Prosecror To THE SOCIETY. 
(Plate XLVI.) 
The distinctness of certain species of Wombat has been the sub- 
ject of discussion and controversy among several eminent naturalists. 
As far back as 1845 Professor Owen, in a paper read before this 
Society, pointed out, from a skull which came into his possession from 
South Australia, that there must be extant another species of Wom- 
bat besides the well-known Phascolomys wombat of Péron and 
Lesueur ; and for the animal from which the skull was obtained he 
proposed the name of Phascolomys latifrons, as indicative of the 
most prominent character displayed by the cranium. In his mas- 
terly summary of the comparison of the two skulls, published in the 
‘ Proceedings’ for 1845, p. 82, and likewise in the ‘ Transactions’ of 
the Society, vol. iii. p. 303, he produced evidence so distinctive of 
two species as in a manner to be indisputable. 
At all events, Prof. Owen’s statement and opinion could not be 
controverted at the time, and were fully endorsed the year follow- 
ing (1846) by Mr. Waterhouse*, himself no mean authority on the 
Marsupials. 
The matter rested thus until 1861, when Mr. G. F. Angas trans- 
mitted some notes to the Society (P. Z. 8.1861, p. 268) upon an 
animal living in the Botanical Gardens in Adelaide, which he sup- 
posed to be the P. latifrons of Prof. Owen. It certainly differed in 
colour and relative dimensions from P. wombat; but as he did not 
examine the skull, there was still a doubt of its being the true P. 
latifrons, Owen. 
This opinion of Mr. Angas was rejected by Mr. Gould, who, in 
his work on the ‘ Mammals of Australia, 1863, vol. i. text and plates 
57, 58, gave two illustrations of what he conceived to be Prof. 
Owen’s Broad-fronted Wombat, basing his judgment on an unusually 
large skin sent to the British Museum from South Australia, and 
which was of “a light sandy buff or isabelline colour.” 
Shortly after this Prof. M‘Coy forwarded to Mr. Gould drawings 
and descriptions of two Wombats, which had been acquired by the 
Acclimatization Society of Melbourne ; and about the same time the 
former gentleman was enabled to examine the skull of one of these, 
which he pronounced to be that of P. latifronst. 
Notwithstanding this, Mr. Gould, in the publication of the next 
part of his volume already referred to, answered these observers 
as follows :—‘‘I should have considered that Mr. Angas and Prof. 
* Natural History of the Mammalia, vol. i. p. 253. 
+ See Prof. M‘Coy’s description, quoted by Mr. Gould in his ‘ Mammals of 
Australia,’ vol. i. 
