RECORDS OF W.A. MUSEUM. 
[47 
FOSSIL MARSUPIAL REMAINS FROM 
BALLADONIA IN THE EUCLA DIVISION. 
The Balladonia “Soak.” 
The Balladonia Soak, which has yielded the rich variety of 
fossilized animal bones and teeth about to be described, is situated 
at the foot of the outcrop of the Granite Rocks at Balladonia, in 
the Eucla Division of this State. These rocks cover an area of 
approximately 200 acres, and rise to a height of about 50 ft. above 
the surrounding limestone plain. 
During the rainy season the water from this catchment area 
drains into the encircling superficial deposits, where it is retained 
for some considerable period. In this, as in many other soaks, the 
loss by drainage and evaporation during the year is less than the 
quantity of water yielded by the annual rainfall, so that the store 
of water is practically permanent in character. 
In the winter time the rocks are surrounded by an expanse of 
water, which gradually decreases in area and becomes fringed by a 
border of swampy land, in which animals often become entombed in 
their efforts to reach the pools of water beyond. 
Carnivorous animals such as Thylacoleo and Sarcophihis would 
also make the country surrounding the water their haunt, and in 
addition to their own remains, would leave behind them bones of 
the animals upon which they preyed. That both Thylacoleo and 
Sarcophilus lived in the locality is proved by the presence of their 
bones and teeth among the other remains presented by Messrs. 
Wm. Ponton and John Sharp of Balladonia. Broken bones with 
undoubted tooth-marks upon them have been recognised, but up to 
the present it has not been possible to make those careful and 
painstaking investigations necessary to determine the identity of 
the animal which left the markings upon the fragments. When 
opportunity offers, however, experiments similar to those recorded 
