RECORDS OF W.A. MUSEUM. 
-20] 
The Vertebra. 
Of the seven cervical vertebrae only two are represented, one of 
which is almost perfect, possessing, as it does, the neural spine and 
one of the transverse processes, which, in the words of Prof. 
Owen^, “ show the usual character of perforation due to the union 
of the outer extremities of par- and di-apophyses with a rudimen- 
tary rib.” Comparison with the figure on plate xcviii. (loc. cit.) 
suggests that these are the third and fourth vertebrae of the series. 
There are numerous dorsal vertebrae, those from the anterior 
portion of the body bearing long and strong neural spines, which 
•contrast greatly with the small delicate ones present on the two 
cervical vertebrae pertaining to this collection. In all there are 
13 rib-bearing members, so that there are two missing from the 
:series as represented by P, mitchelli of Owen, the form to which 
our specimen is most closely related. 
The four lumbar vertebrae, though none of them perfect, 
show their characteristics with distinctness, the diapophysis are 
large and flat, though in the last they assume a shape more 
approaching that of the same process in the four sacral vertebrae 
and the articular processes of the neural arch are more developed 
than in the dorsal vertebrae. Professor McCoy noticed that in 
several of the fossil remains of Phascolomys examined by him, the 
last lumbar vertebra showed signs of a strong inclination to become 
fused with those united to form the sacrum, in fact he goes further 
by stating^ that “ in several of the specimens the neural spine of 
the first sacral vertebra is like our fossil, nearly as high as those of 
the lumbar vertebrae, contrasting with the abruptly lowered or 
undeveloped neural spines of the following sacrals ; giving the’ 
impression that the last lumbar became sacral by anchylosis with 
the body of the succeeding one, and by the articulation of its 
diapophysis with the ilia.’.’ A figure given on p. 30 of the work 
cited illustrates this diagramatically. 
This new species is one of the intermediate forms, for in it the 
last lumbar with its diapophysis is much thicker and narrower than 
is the case with the other three lumbars, and more nearly approach- 
ing in every way the succeeding sacrals. There is, however, no 
1 Owen, Extinct Mammals of Australia, p. 297. 
2 Prof. McCoy, Prodromus of the Palaeontology of Victoria, 
. - dec. VII., p. 29 (1882). ■ 
