32 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



of the Australian Museum, to whom I sent a large number for 

 identification. 



Macro-pus major - - Boomer or Forester Kangaroo. 



Halmaturus bennetii - Brush Kangaroo. 



H. Billardieri - - Tasmanian Wallaby. 



Hypsiprymmus cqncalis - Kangaroo-Kat. 



Perameles Gunnii - - Bandicoot 



Phalangista fiLliginosa - Black Opposum. 



P. vulpina - - - Common Opposum. 



P. viverrina - - - Ringtail Opposum. 



Antechinus Swainsonii - Swainson's Antechinus. 



Dasyurus viverrinus - Native Cat. 



D. maculatus - - Spotted-Tailed Tiger Cat. 



SarcopMlus ursinus - Tasmanian Devil. 



Phascolomys Wombatus - Wombat. 



Mus castaneus - - Bush Rat. 

 It will be seen from the above list, that all the bones belonged to 

 animals indigenous to and existing in the island at the present 

 time; and, therefore, unlike the osseous relics of the Australian 

 mainland, they do not furnish any extinct forms of mammalian life. 

 At the extremity of this small chamber, was an opening barely 

 large enough for me to pass my arm through, which indicated the 

 existence of another compartment. Indeed, it would be difficult to 

 say how far these singular ramifying cavities in this greenstone hill 

 may not extend; and it would have been highly dangerous to have 

 attempted making an enlargement, by the displacement of any of the 

 blocks of stone, had I been provided with the means of so doing; 

 inasmuch, as every block appeared to serve the purpose of a key- 

 stone in the arch of a bridge. By some terrene convulsion in the 

 past, the whole rock-mass had been irrupted, and had thus become 

 accidentally wedged and locked together — forming these singular 

 and erratic chambers. If ever a natural crypt or cavern was 

 calculated to impress the explorer with a sense of the uncertainty of 

 life by character of its configuration, this one, most undoubtedly, 

 was. One felt that even the discharging of a pistol would have 

 been courting destruction. There were enormous, angular, masses 

 of rock, hundreds of tons in weight, apparently hanging from the 

 roof^ like the fabled sword of Damocles, and vrithout any visible 

 adequate support; and yet they had maintained that position for 

 untold ages. 



The bones did not bear traces of having undergone any marked 

 change by petrifying processes. Those on surface of the floor still 

 retained a trace, in some instances, of the animal oil; while those 

 which were the lowest embedded, and consequently the oldest, 

 appeared to contain little more than the phosphate of lime, and 

 accordingly adhered to the tongue. This condition may be due to the 



