261 



by Lucas and LeSouef, is ridiculous. In a land where 

 Ornithorhynchus and Myrmecobius survive, the presence of 

 a feral descendant of an introduced, domesticated northern 

 wolf can merely be regarded as a relatively recent intrusion. 



(3) The theory that the Dingo, as such, is the ancestor 

 of all domesticated dogs, is absurd, and even that it was the 

 ancestor of the dogs of the Pacific Islanders is difficult to 

 credit. How did the Dingo spread its progeny about the 

 world ? If the introduction of the dog into Australia is a 

 problem, what then of the infinitely greater difficulty involved 

 in the dispersal of its progeny from Australia to the rest 

 of the world, or even only to the Pacific Islands'? A great 

 deal of ingenuity must be expended in the planning of land 

 bridges before the thesis can be considered as anything more 

 than a mere random assertion. 



(4) The claim that the Dingo is so ancient an inhabitant 

 of Australia that he must have come before the earliest 

 human arrival set foot here, must be considered from two 

 points of view : first, the antiquity of man in Australia ; and 

 second, the possibility of the Dingo's unaided entry. Our 

 knowledge of man's long tenure of the continent of Australia 

 has been considerably enlarged by the finding of the Talgai 

 skull, for though it must be admitted that "no absolutely 

 certain evidence exists as to the exact level at which the skull 

 was located" (Dr. S. A. Smith), the intrinsic evidence of its 

 high antiquity is well established. 



When taken in conjunction with the human molar from 

 the breccia of the Wellington Caves, reported by Etheridge, 

 the portions of human skeletons discovered under similar 

 circumstances by Krefft, and the evidence collected by Dr. 

 Fenner (South Australian Naturalist, loc. cit.J, we need not 

 fear that the high antiquity of the Dingo in Australia need 

 dissociate his advent from that of his human companion. 

 It is safe to say that man and the Dingo were the contem- 

 poraries of some of the extinct marsupials, even if we do not 

 venture to assign any geological name to the period of their 

 overlap. 



When we come to inquire into the possibility of the Dingo 

 arriving in Australia unassisted by, and unassociated with, 

 man, and when we examine the statements of those who 

 have urged this possibility, we are forced to own that the 

 difficulties of the problem have not always been appreciated 

 by those who have advocated this solution. The easy 

 assumption that the dog "simply walked overland," or that 

 "he wandered into Australia" by a land bridge, has been a 

 pitfall which many have failed to avoid. It need not be 



