162 



FOSSILS IN AUSTRALIAN CAVES. 



[Ch. XIII 



fragmeuts of bone and rock are firmly bound together by a red ochreous 

 cement. 



Some of these caves have been examined by Sir T. Mitchell in the 

 Wellington Valley, about 210 miles west of Sidney, on the river Bell, 

 one of the principal sources of the Macquarie, and on the Macquarie 

 itself. The caverns often branch off in different directions through the 

 rock, widening and contracting their dimensions, and the roofs and floors 

 are covered with stalactite. The bones are often broken, but do not seem 

 to be water-worn. In some places they lie imbedded in loose earth, but 

 they are usually included in a breccia. 



The remains found most abundantly are those of the kangaroo, of 

 which there are four species, besides which the genera Hypsiprymnus, 

 Phalangista^ Fhascolomys^ and Dasyurus^ occur. There are also bones, 

 formerly conjectured by some osteologists to belong to the hippopotamus, 

 and by others to the dugong, but which are now referred by Mr. Owen 

 to a marsupial genus, allied to the Wombat. 



In the fossils above enumerated, several species are larger than the 

 largest living ones of the same genera now known in Australia. The 

 annexed figure of the right side of a lower jaw of a kangaroo {Macro- 



yi?.13L 



Macroptis atlas, Owen. 

 Permanent false molar, in the alveolus. 



pus atlas, Owen) will at once be seen to exceed in magnitude the cor- 

 responding part of the largest living kangaroo, which is represented in 



Fig. 132. 



Lowest jaw of largest living species of kangaroo. 

 {Macropus major.) 



