EXISTING SPECIES OF THE GENUS PHASCOLOMYS. 
Early in 1798, Bass had made his celebrated expedition m a 
whale boat, penetrating the strait that now bears his name, anc in 
October of the same year, accompanied by Flinders, he again set 
ont, this time in a small sloop called the Norfolk. During this expe 
dition he found and brought back a wombat from Cape Barren 
Island.* * * § It is commonly stated that Bass found the first wombat, 
but this is not so. As a matter of fact, Hunter sent his specimen to 
Newcastle in August, 1798, and Bass only returned to Sydney with 
his in January, 1799. It is also evident that Flinders knew of the 
existence of the animal when, late in 1798, he accompanied the 
schooner Francis on its second visit to the wreck of the Sydney Cove. 
He refers several times to it, calling it by its native name, thatys, 
the name applied to the mainland form by the aborigines of New 
South Wales. Thus, for example, he saysf — “ The stations whence 
angles were taken for a survey of the channel and surrounding lands, 
were — first, Point Womat, a rocky projection of Cape Barren 
Island ; ” and, again, speaking generally of the Furneaux Islands , % 
he says — “ No other quadrupeds than the kangaroo, womat, and 
duck-billed aculeated ant-eater were found upon the islands ; ” 
and, lastly, he says§ — “ Clarke’s Island afforded the first specimen 
of the new animal called Womat, but I found it more numerous upon 
that of Cape Barren ; Preservation and the Passage Isles do not 
possess it. The little bear-like quadruped is known in New South 
Wales, and called by the natives womat, w T ombat, or worn back 
it burrows like a badger, and on the continent 
does not quit its retreat till dark ; but it feeds at all times on the 
uninhabited islands, and was commonly seen foraging amongst the 
sea refuse on the shore, though the coarse grass seemed to be its 
usual nourishment.” 
In 1800, Bewick issued the fourth edition of his History of 
Quadrupeds, and in this|| appears in full the letter dated August 5th, 
1798, addressed by Hunter to the Philosophical Society of Newcastle, 
in which he states the position of the island on which the animal was 
found and describes it. II Amongst other things he says — “ It is 
about the size of a badger, a species of which we supposed it to be 
from its dexterity in burrowing in the earth, by means of its fore 
paws ; but on watching its general motions, it appeared to have 
much of the habits and manners of a bear This animal 
has lately been discovered to be an inhabitant of the interior of the 
country also The natives call it wombach ” 
This is undoubtedly the earliest notice published of any species 
of Phascolomys, and was indeed the only description of the animal 
* Collins. An Account of the English Colony of New South Wales, 2nd Edit., 1804, p. 469. 
\ blinders. I oyage to Terra Australis, 1814, \ ol. i. Introduction, p. cxxviii. 
J Loc. cit., p. cxxxiv. 
§ Loc. cit., p. cxxxv. 
|| 4th Ed., 1800, p. 622. 
The latitude of the Island is given as 40' 36" S., thus proving conclusively that, as Flinders 
says, the first wombat came from Clarke Island. J 
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