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The Status of the Dingo. 



By F. Wood Jones, D.Sc, F.Z.S., 



Professor of Anatomy in the University of Adelaide, 



[Read October 13, 1921.] 



Speculations concerning the origin of the Warrigal, or 

 Dingo, have occupied a considerable place in Australian 

 zoological literature, and if we accept Etheridge's 1916 

 Memoir as being the latest authoritative pronouncement upon 

 the subject, we are forced to conclude that, in Australia at 

 any rate, the question is regarded as by no means settled. 



Etheridge postulates two alternatives : the Dingo may bo 

 indigenous, or it may be introduced; but he concludes his 

 essay by saying, "which of the postulates the reader is pre- 

 pared to adopt must be left to his interpretation of the facts 

 stated." The reader will possibly be left with the impression 

 that the author believes the animal to be indigenous, but the 

 facts embodied in the substance of the paper are hardly suffi- 

 cient for either author or reader to form a very definite 

 opinion. 



This uncertainty is, unfortunately, given currency in text- 

 book literature, and Beddard (Mammalia, Camb. Nat. Hist., 

 p. 421) says, "it does not seem certain whether it was tamed 

 and brought over to Australia by the native races, or is a true 

 and indigenous Australian species." It is owing to this 

 apparent uncertainty concerning the animal that the present 

 author has thought it worth while to write a paper upon a 

 subject to the discussion of which he brings forward no new 

 facts and no new theories. 



[A] A brief survey of the literature yields the following 

 opinions expressed, from time to time, by authorities upon 

 Australian zoology : — 



(1) The Dingo has been claimed to be an indigenous 

 Australian mammal — an animal which originated within the 

 confine's of the Australian continent. Prof. McCoy (Prod. 

 Paleont. Vict., Ace. vii., pp. 7-10) remarks that "the Dingo 

 was really one of the most ancient of the indigenous mammals 

 of the country." Again, Gerard Krefft (Mammals of Aus- 

 tralia) says, "It must be accepted as a fact that the Dingo 

 is indigenous." 



(2) It has been claimed that the Dingo is not only an 

 indigenous Australian mammal, but that it is, actually, the 

 ancestor of the domestic dog. J. Douglas Ogilby (Cat. Aust. 



