CHAPTEE VIII. 



VARIOUS EXTIXCT ANIMALS; — AND ON THE ANTIQUITY OF THE 

 GENERA OF INSECTS AND LAND JIOLLUSCA. 



EXTINCT MAMMALIA OF AUSTUALIA. 



These have all been obtained from caves and late Tertiary or 

 Post-Tertiary deposits, and consist of a large number of extinct 

 forms, some of gigantic size, l)ut all marsupials and allied to the 

 existing fauna. - There are numerous forms of kangaroos, some 

 larger than any living species ; and among these are two genera, 

 Protemnodon and StJicni/rus, which Professor Garrod has lately 

 shown to have been allied, not to any Australian forms, but to 

 the Dcndrolagi or tree-kangaroos of New Guinea, ^^'e have 

 also remains of Tltylacinus and Dasynrvs, which now only exist 

 in Tasmania ; and extinct species of Hyjmprymmis and Phasco- 

 lomys, the latter as large as a tapir. Among the more remarkable 

 extinct genera are Diprotodon, a huge thick-limbed animal 

 allied to the kangaroos, but nearly as large as an elephant; 

 Nototherium, liaving charac:ters of Macropus and Phascolarctos 

 combined, and as large as a rhinoceros ; and Thylacoho, a pha- 

 langer-like marsupial nearly as large as a lion, and supposed by 

 Professor Owen to ha"\'e been of carnivorous habits, tliough this 

 opinion is not held by other naturalists. 



Here then we find the same phenomena as in the other coun- 

 tries we have already discussed, — the very recent disappearance 

 of a large number of pe3uliar forms, many of them far surpassing 

 in size any that continue to exist. It hardly seems probable 

 that in this case their disa]ipearance can have been due to the 

 direct effects of the Glacial epoch, since no very extensive glacia- 



