PHASCOLOMYS WOMBAT, Per. et Les. 
Wombat. 
Head, or the size of life. 
I wish it to be understood that, an interval of eighteen years having passed away between 
the commencement and termination of the present work, there may be some instances 
in which opinions expressed in years gone by now require modification. When I pub- 
lished the reduced figures of this animal, I remarked that it was uncertain whether there 
was more than one species of the genus Phascolomys . I now, in 1863, feel, confident that 
there are three, if not four, quite distinct Wombats — one inhabiting Tasmania, or Van 
Diemen’s Land, and certainly two, if not three, the opposite portion of the Australian 
continent. 
The life-sized portrait given on the opposite Plate was taken from a Van Diemen’s 
Land animal. It will be seen that it is very dark in colour — a feature common, I believe, 
to most of the specimens in that island ; I have, however, heard of lighter-coloured ex- 
amples being occasionally seen, but none have come under my own observation. It will 
be observed that, independently of the difference of colour, it is a small animal when 
compared with P. latifrons. I would call the attention of Professor M £ Coy and others 
who have opportunities of studying the Wombats in their native country to the import- 
ance of investigating their history, since it is to them that the mammalogists of Europe 
must look for accurate information on the subject : and this should be done speedily ; 
for, like the Badger in England, these large and singular Marsupials will soon become 
scarce. 
My figure was taken from an individual which lived for many years in the menagerie 
of the Zoological Society of London. 
