SUB-FOSSIL REMAINS FROM KING ISLAND. 
&c.” In speaking of Kangaroo Island he says,* “ Nous y avons vu 
que trois especes de mammiferes : l’une appartient an joli genres 
des Dasyures,” and in connexion with the latter refers to a plate on 
which two Dasyures are drawn, the title of the plate being as 
follows “ Nouvelle-Hollande : Nouvelle Grades du Sud. Dasyure 
a longue queue ( Dasyurus Macrourus , Geof.).” 
It is evident that Peron regarded the Kangaroo Island species 
as identical with the larger mainland form now known as Dasyurus 
maculatus , but he savs nothing with regard to the two King Island 
species, and does not appear to have collected specimens. 
At the present two species of Dasyurus are known from 
Victoria and Tasmania, a somewhat larger form, D. maculatus , and 
a somewhat smaller one, D. viverrinus . Both of these are found 
in Victoria and Tasmania, the first-named species being more 
abundant in the island than on the mainland. During the visit of 
the Field Naturalists’ Club in 1887, D. maculatus was reported as 
existing on King Island, but not D. viverrinus. 
Our collection of bones includes the remnants of twentv-five 
crania, and sixty lower jaws, one of which came from Deal Island. 
No trace of any other bone could be found. 
The crania and jaws are clearly divisible into two sets, a larger 
anda smaller, indicating the existence of two species as recorded 
by Peron, who, unfortunately, gave no indication of their relative 
size. ^ I lie question arises as to the relationship of these two 
species to those now existing in Australia and Tasmania. In our 
collection, twenty-one of the crania belong to the larger form, and 
Diir only to the smaller. Of the lower jaws, thirty-seven appear 
to belong to the larger, and twenty-nine to the “smaller. The 
difference in size is not due to immaturity, the dentition of both 
series being the permanent one. 
In order to try and decide the relationship of the fossil forms 
we have made a considerable number of measurements of skulls 
fn theSo^tablT* SPeC ' menS ’ the reSUItS are given 
, In , the flowing table the crania of the King Island specimens 
and of a series of specimens of D. maculatus and D. viverrinus are 
grouped m accordance with their basal lengths : 
MM. 
lv '“o 1,11 . 
60-70. 
70-80. 
80-90. 
90-100. 
100-105. 
King Island species 
D. maculatus 
1 
1 
2 
1 
1 
D. viverrinus 
7 
3 
4 
Soe. cit. p. 7t>. pi. 63> 
[ 30] 
105-110. 
110-115. 
115 & 
over. 
