46 ] 
RECORDS OF W.A. MUSEUM. 
Sub-Fam. Diprotodontin^,. 
Diprotodon, Owen (1838)1 
Diprotodon australis, Owen (1838)“ 
THE DIPROTODON. 
There are many fragments of large bones which are very 
difficult to identify, but it is not at all unlikely that a number of 
them belong to this species, the largest Australian marsupial. 
Up to the present, those specimens which undoubtedly belong 
to D. australis consist of the head of a femur, several fragments of 
the ilium, including the socket which received the head of the thigh 
bone. 
It is quite possible that some of the other fractured and much 
decayed bones and bone fragments may belong to this animal, but 
there is so little material of value to work on that it would be too 
hazardous to express any opinion on the subject of their definite 
identity. Some of the portions of ribs certainly are of very great 
size, and seem to have belonged to an animal quite as large as the 
creature which yielded the bones from which the cast of the 
Diprotodon australis skeleton in the Mammalian Gallery was taken. 
A number of bones in a more perfect state of preservation but 
presumably all belonging to a smaller animal, have also been 
classed as bones of D. australis. They comprise radius, ulna, femur, 
clavicle, imperfect ribs, and cervical vertebrae — of these, the limb 
bones show all the Diprotodon features. The olecranon of the ulna 
is short, not prolonged as in Phascolomys (the Wombat), and the 
radius has a characteristic twist. 
The dimensions of the limb bones are as under : — 
Total length of ulna, including the olecranon . . 36 cna. 
„ „ radius .. .. .. 32-5010. 
,, ,, femur .. .. about 46 cm. 
They are much smaller than the corresponding bones of D. 
australis, when fully grown, but evidently do not belong to the 
N ototherium whose teeth were found in the deposit, as the ulna and 
radius do not indicate fossorial habits. 
In Mitchell's “ Three Expeditions into Eastern Australia,” 2nd Edition, 
Vol. II., p. 362 (1838). 
2 Loc. cit. 
