56 llOUN EXPEDITIUX — NAUUATIVE. 



which in ;dl proljjibility may bu reg:iick'd as a gigantic buiiuwing cicaturc, iiiucli 

 liii(; ail fiionnuus wombat, though perliaps its sizu enforced it to be eouteiit with 

 digging up roots rather than with actually burrowing amongst them as tlit^ li\ ing 

 wombat does. There was however an aniiiKd, Pliascoloinys i^ii^as^ belonging to the 

 same genus as the wombat which nviched a height of three feet and was of very 

 massive build. 



Fragments of Ijones show also that at the same time there lived Phalangers 

 (allied to the so called "opossum") of the genus Pseudochirus, and also an animal 

 closely allied to the living " native-beai' " (Phascolarctos), though in each case the 

 fossil animals were of larger size than the living ones. Another now e.xtinct 

 animal was tlie Thylacoleo, in regard to the exact nature of which there has been 

 considerable disputt;. Lydckker* says "the remarkably trenchant form of the last 

 premolar tooth of this strange e.vtiiict repi'esentative of the Phalangers not 

 unnaturally led to the conclusion that the creature was a carnivore, preying upon 

 the large herbivorous Marsupials which were its contemporaries, and it accordingly 

 received the specific name which it bears. Fuller ac<iuaintaiice witli its anatomy 

 revealed, however, its intimate kiiishi[> with the Phalangers, and when this was 

 fully realised, it was argued that Thylacoleo must be purely a V(^getable feeder. 

 Many of the Cuscuses are, however, partly carnivorous in their habits; and in our 

 own opinion it seems probable that in this respect their gigantic cousin resembled 

 them to a certain extent. Not that we mean to assert that Thylacoleo was a 

 creature which preyed on large Mammals, since to attack and overcome such its 

 teeth are clearly not suited ; but we do think that it may have probably killed and 

 devoured the smaller Mammals, as well as such birds as it was able to catch." 



From its huge size, equal to that of a Rhinoceros, Diprotodon has naturally 

 attracted a large amount of attention, and the recent discovery at Lake Callabonna 

 of a series of complete skeletons will, when the material upon which Dr. Stirling 

 is now engaged has been worked out, (mable us to gain a complete account of its 

 real nature. It appears to have been an animal the bulk of which was (juite eipial 

 to that of the largest llhinocero.s, though it had longer legs than the latter. 

 Unlike a kangaroo both front and hind legs, each of which according to Dr. 

 Stirling were probably provided with five toes, were of the same length, while its 

 tail was only a little over a foot in length. Diprotodon was not therefore a 

 jumping animal, Ijut, like the kangaroo it was a peaceful herbivor, whilst its huge 

 size and strength probably enabled it to tear down at all events the smaller trees, 

 upon the foliage of which it fed. 



'■ Marsupials ami Moiiotremcs. AUun's Naturalists' Library, 1894, \i. 200. 



