ASSEKTED OCCURRENCE IN AUSTRALIA. 273 



was represented by species for the most part very closely 

 allied, if actually distinct, in Europe, in Asia, in North and 

 South America, and in Australia ; it is the only aboriginal 

 genus of quadruped in that continent which was represented 

 by other species in other parts of the world.' 1 Here is an 

 exception, the importance of which, if sound, can hardly be 

 overrated, in reference to the laws which governed the dis- 

 tribution of the extinct mammalia of the Australian con- 

 tinent. The identification upon which it rests has not yet 

 been withdrawn, so far as I am aware, by the author ; and 

 in his inaugural address to the British Association at Leeds, 

 he re-aflirms it twice, in the remarks upon the geographical 

 distribution of animals. 2 As Professor Owen has not pub- 

 lished others, it is presumed that the evidences there referred 

 to are derived either from the remains received from Sir T. 

 L. Mitchell, or from the molar tooth brought by Count 

 Strzlecki. The former being of Diprotodon, the onus pro- 

 bandi now rests with the latter, which, also, is preserved in 

 the Museum of the College of Surgeons. The specimen 

 consists of a very perfect and intact germ of a back molar. 

 The enamel-shell is completely formed, but the pulp-niicleus 

 had only been partially calcified, so that the ivory is limited 

 to a thin layer below the enamel, upon which the re- 

 entering angles of the transverse ridges are distinctly visible 

 underneath. No part of the ivory base, or fangs, had been 

 formed, nor is any trace of cement visible upon the crown- 

 surface. The specimen is entire, with the exception of a 

 slight fracture at the top of the inner tubercle of the front 

 ridge, which is decurrent to the base in a vertical fissure of 

 old date, being filled up with matrix. The tooth is the 

 j^enultimate true molar (m. 2) of the lower jaw, left side ; 

 the crown is composed of three very distinct transverse 

 ridges, divided in the longitudinal direction by a distinct 

 bipartient fissure into an outer and inner division, each 

 composed of a pair of high and obtusely conical thick points. 

 The outer division of each ridge throws out, both in 

 front and behind, a solitary outlying tubercle, attaining a 

 lower elevation than the principal points. These tubercles 

 of the contiguous ridges are connate, so as to form a 

 bridge connecting each outer pair of mammilla) and block- 





' British Association Report, 1844, 

 pp. 223, 239. 



2 ' I have received evidences of Ele- 

 phantine species from China and Aus- 

 tralia, proving the Proboscidean Pachy- 

 derms to have been the most cosmopolitan 

 of hoofed quadrupeds.' (Brit. Assoc. 

 Report, 1858, Address, p. lxxxvi.) 

 VOL. II. 



' In the formation of these recent 

 tertiary periods, and in the limestone 

 caverns of Australia, abundance of 

 Mammalian fossils have been found, 

 and, with the exception of the single 

 tooth of a Mastodon, every one of them 

 has proved to lie marsupial species.' 

 (Idem, p. Lxxxviii.) 



