DINGO 



213 



Australians are the lowest of mankind is erroneous, for in mental characters they 

 approximate in many ways rather to the Caucasian than to the Negro standard. 



On the other hand, Tasmanians, now extinct, seem to have been members of the 

 Melanesian or Asiatic group of Negroes, the features in which they depart from 

 the original type being apparently the result of isolation, and not of crossing. 

 Negro characters are shown in the form of the nose and nasal bones, the thick, 

 projecting lips, the large teeth, and the tufted, frizzly, and elliptical hair. As in 

 Australians, the last upper molar, or " wisdom-tooth," has three roots — a feature 

 rarely seen in higher races. 



Dingo. 



As the native dog or dingo appears to be also an immigrant into 

 Australia, it may appropriately be referred to in connection with its 

 masters, with whom it probably travelled from Asia. Dingos are nearly related 

 to the pariah dogs of southern Asia and eastern Europe, as well as to the half- 

 wild tengera dogs belonging to certain tribes in Java. It is true that fossil 

 skulls and bones of the dingo have been found in association with those of extinct 

 Australian marsupials, but since these belong to a period when man was already 

 in existence in other parts, there seems no reason why he should not have reached 

 Australia at this date. Although the dingo was long regarded as a species by 

 itself, and named Canis dingo, these considerations lead to the conclusion that it 

 is not specifically distinct from the domesticated dogs of other parts of the world, 

 and, if entitled to a scientific title, should accordingly be known as C. familiaris 



