30 



MAMMALIA 



Family 3. Phascolomyidae. Wombats. 



Compact, rodent-like herbivorous marsupials with large head, short neck, short 



legs and stumpy tail. ' ' ' . / elongated above and below. Molars hrachy- 



odont or prismatic. Extremities clumsy, five-toed, fore- and hind-limbs nearly of 

 equal length. Recent and Pleistocene of Australia. 



Fig. 47. 

 Diprotodon auitralis Owen. Lateral aspect of skull and lower jaw. Greatly reduced. 



Fig. 48. 



Diprotodon australis Owen. Pleistocene of Lake Kallabonna, S. Australia. 

 Riglit hiud-foot, greatly reduced. (After Stirling and Zietz.) 



Phascolarcfus Blainv. f /. 

 tubercles which may sometimes 



Phascolomys Geoffroy. ^ 

 transverse ridges, each of which 



Fhascolojius Owen. Fossil 

 of its very great size. 



Nototherium and Diprotodon 

 first found in the Pleistocene of 



Molars brachyodont with four V-shaped 

 become more numerous and conical in form. 

 /. Molars cylindrical, consisting of two 

 is composed of two V-shaped tubercles, 

 in the Pleistocene, distinguished on account 



Owen (Figs. 47, 48). -j /. Extinct genera 

 Queensland and New South Wales, the typical 



