40 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



liitlierto recorded from Polynesia, but the fruit of this interesting 

 tree has not yet been obtained, l^y Mr. F. Reader, European fungi, 

 Si^orifera^ and by Mr. S. H. Wintle, F.L.S., \ plate photograph of 

 the cliff at Cheltenham, fossil tooth of cetacean, fragments of fossil 

 bone of sperm-whale (^Physetei-), and an undetermined fossil, either 

 a palatial tooth of a fish, or a fossil coral allied to Flacotrochus 

 deitoides, all from Cheltenham, some fine zeolites from basalt quarry 

 near IMelbourne, and kaolin from decomposed felspar dyke, Victoria 

 Bridge Cutting, Kew. 



After the usual conversazione the meeting terminated. 



THE FOSSIL MAMMALIAN BEMAINS OF TASMAMA 



COxMPARED WITH THOSE OF THE AUSTRALIAN 



MAINLAND. 



By S. H. Wintle, F.L.S. 



Part II. 

 Re ad before the Field Naturalists' Chib of Victoria. July 12, 1886. 



Upon my first visit to the cavern, my suspicions fell upon the 

 Thylacinus, or natiye tiger, as the animal most likely to have 

 carried these bones into it. Subsequent examination has induced 

 me to dispel that impression, for I now consider it very 

 doubtful if an animal of its size and peculiar form could have 

 managed to pass through the narrow opening to the remotest 

 chamber. In this opinion I am supported by old Tas- 

 manian bushmen who have had even better opportunities of 

 observing the habits of this creature than myself. There is only 

 one other carnivorous marsupial in the island tliat can be 

 suspected, and that is the Native Devil, which has been 

 well-named Sarcophihts ; and, therefore, I am inclined to 

 believe that he has been the real bone-depositor in these 

 subterranean recesses. This opinion, I may observe, is strengthened 

 by the fact of the bones of this animal occurring with those of 

 herbivor jus marsupials, while the contracted apertures of the chambers 

 would offer easy access to him. But then, at a first glance, we are 

 confronted with the fact that he could not carry a Forester Kangaroo 

 into such a place, even if he succeeded in killing it, which is very 

 improbable, notwithstanding his bloodthirsty, voracious, and 

 treacherous character. The charge of destroying sheep is laid at his 

 door, as well as it is to that of the Native Tiger, which is so many 

 times larger and swifter of foot ; but the timid sheep is a Tery 

 different animal to the "old-man" kangaroo, who can prove a 



