778 MtOF. BALDWIN SPENCEK ON A [NoV. 20, 



its teeth broken away. That it must have lain for some time 

 exposed within reach of the tide is shown by the fact that a 

 barnacle three quarters of an inch in diameter has grown 

 attached to a fragment of the sacral region. When it was 

 originally found (and as it came into my hands) only a small 

 portion of the broken under surface of the skull was visible. A 

 portion of one side of the lower jaw, parts of ten vertebral bodies, 

 a portion of the sacrum, a broken ilium, various bones of the 

 hinder limbs, one of the marsupial bones, and parts of ribs were also 

 visible. All traces of teeth, shoulder-girdle and front limbs, hind 

 feet and tail were unfortunately lacking. The ten vertebras are but 

 little disturbed, the zygapophyses of eight fitting closely on to one 

 another. 



By dint of careful working, the comparatively soft matrix which 

 is full of Turritella-shells was removed, and the remains of the skull, 

 lower jaw, femur, and tibia were extracted. One of the coronoid 

 processes was found between the zygoma of the right side and 

 the cranium, detached from the lower jaw and inverted in position ; 

 but though a considerable part of the matrix has been worked 

 away, not a trace of a tooth could be found. There can be little 

 doubt but that the lower jaw and pelvic girdle had been smashed 

 before the specimen w as finally embedded in the matrix ; the 

 pectoral girdle and limbs and possibly also the hind feet were 

 contained in the part of the block from which the preserved 

 portion was broken off, while weathering will account for the 

 damage done to the lower part of the skull and the hind-limb 

 bones. 



The strongly inflected angle of the lower jaw, the general 

 structure of the skull and the marsupial bones indicate the 

 essentially marsupial nature of the animal ; but at the same time it 

 will be seen, when dealing with various parts of the skeleton, that 

 this early Australian mammal shows structural features which 

 in certain respects are not characteristic of living marsupials, 

 and in others are characteristic of various groups belonging 

 on the one hand to the Diprotodontia and on the other to the 

 Polyprotodontia. 



The name of Wynyardia bassiana is proposed for the fossil, the 

 generic name being derived from that of the township close to 

 which lie the Table Cape beds in which it was found. 



The Skull. (Figs. 1 & 2, PI. XLIX., & fig. 5, PI. L.) 



The upper surface of the skull is fairly intact, but the lower is 

 unfortunately broken, the exoccipital and basioccipital, the auditory 

 bullae and the palatal region being absent. 



The most striking features are ( 1) the considerable relative size of 

 the cranial as compared with the facial portion, (2) the strong 

 development of the sagittal crest and the lambdoidal crista, (3) the 

 broad sweep and upward curvature of the zygomatic arch, (4) the 

 large size of the squamosal, (5) the large size of the lachrymals, 



