20 ANNALS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM, 
irregular patch on the nape, another covering the chin, throat, and 
breast, and contracting to a point on the abdomen ; the paws, left 
tarsus, and tip of tail are white also; the inguinal region tawny- 
white. There is much about this animal compelling one to believe 
that though truly called a " wild dog " it is not a " truly wild dog " > 
in other words, that there was a time when its forbears were not 
wild. A small head on a bulky body, both mounted on short legs, 
together with a coat of contrasted colours, are features which are 
certainly not the rule among indigenous members of the family 
Canidse. But if we decide that this dog is merely feral, of a 
domestic breed run wild, as dogs are apt to do, how are we to 
account for its habitat on Mount ScratchleyP So far as I am 
aware, the present natives of the island possess no tame breed 
of dog similar to this— none, therefore, from which this could 
have departed. If this be so, it is only reasonable to conclude 
that New Gruinea has been peopled by a pre-existing race, and one 
sufficiently advanced to cultivate varieties among its canine 
companions and hybridise them. We already have sufficient proofs, 
in relics now venerated as fetishes, that such a race once existed— a 
race who manufactured pottery of a grade superior to that now 
achieved by existing Papuan art, and elegantly fashioned mullers for 
grinding seeds, putting to shame the water- worn stones that content 
the present folk. What grand changes, geological, climatological, 
zoological, botanical, New Guinea and Australia have experienced 
since the muller that sank into the old river-bed in Woodlark Islandi 
was new from the hands of its maker ! 
