Ill 



NOTE ON THE GENERA ZYGOMATURUS AND 

 NOTOTHERIUM. 



By C. W. De Vis, M.A. 



To page 161, Pt. 5, of the British Museum Catalogue of Fossil- 

 Mammalia recently issued, is the following foot-note — " De Vis 

 (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. VIII., p. 404) has provisionally 

 referred another type of humerus to Nototherium. That bone 

 probably, however, belonged to a small Diprotodon, and there is 

 every reason for regarding Owen's determination as correct, since 

 there is no dental evidence of the existence of any other animal to 

 which the bone referred by Owen to the present genus could have 

 belonged. The great difference between the skulls of Diprotodon 

 and Nototherium would of itself indicate that an equally well- 

 marked difference should occur in the limb bones of the two 

 genera." On this, the writer would observe that when discussing 

 the humerus in question, he proposed to refer it to Nototherium, 

 not only b cause — having then no evidence to the contrary — he 

 accepted Sir R. Owen's opinion that there was no small species of 

 Diprotodon such as that founded on the teeth described by Prof. 

 Huxley as D. minor, but because he seemed to see, and attempted 

 to describe, differences between the humerus noticed and that of 

 D. australis, which are more than specific, He regrets that his 

 description, unaided by a figure, failed to convince, for assuredly 

 any one examining the two bones, side by side, would feel justified 

 in doubting their generic much more their specific identity. 



Notwithstanding then that a ' small Diprotodon,' namely, 

 1). minor, has since re asserted itself by fresh testimony, the writer 

 is still unable to believe that the humerus in dispute belonged to 

 a Diprotodon — its size is in itself a caution against its ascription to 

 D. minor, since that species was but a fourth smaller than D. 

 australis, while the humerus came from an animal fully one-third 

 less in all its dimensions, and if, probably, it did not belong to the 

 smaller then, more certainly, not to the larger species. But, a pant 



