1872-82 THE ; PLEASURES OF THE CHASE 5 239 



generally liberally responded to, and a large 

 variety of specimens was frequently sent to him. 

 These miscellaneous contributions he kept in 

 memory, and as occasions offered, pieced together. 

 Sometimes years elapsed before he had received 

 sufficient material to afford him conclusive proof 

 of the facts at which he had perhaps long ago 

 arrived by induction. Threads had often to be 

 dropped which he had no opportunity of picking 

 up again for long intervals of time. But when 

 some missing link arrived, it was at once utilised 

 in the construction of the extinct animals on 

 which he was patiently engaged. 



In this lecture at the Royal Colonial Institute 

 he spoke of the ' absorbing pleasures of the chase,' 

 which these pursuits afforded him, and declared that 

 ' in the sporting world there was no hunt that was 

 so exciting, so full of interest, and so satisfactory, 

 when events prove one to have been on the right 

 scent, as that of a huge beast which no eye will 

 ever see alive, and which, perhaps, no mortal eye 

 ever did behold. Such a chase is not ended in a 

 day, in a week, nor in a season. One's interest 

 is revived and roused year by year, as bit by bit of 

 the petrified portions of the skeleton comes to 

 hand. Thirty such years elapsed before I was able 

 to outline a restoration of Diprotodon australis.' 



Sometimes, however, other materials than 

 extinct fossil remains were submitted to Owen 



