792 
PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE FOSSIL MAMMALS OF AUSTRALIA. 
first indicated by a fragment of a maxillary bone with three molars, transmitted to 
me by Sir Thomas L. Mitchell, C.B., in 1844. 
As the two smallest of these measured rather more than one inch and a half in the 
antero-posterior direction, and the least transverse diameter was lines, I provisionally 
assigned to the species the name “ Macropus Goliah ,” and communicated my brief notes 
on the fossil to my friend and present colleague, George K. Waterhouse, Esq., at that 
time engaged in his excellent work, ‘The Natural History of the Mammalia’*. The 
type specimen is figured in Plate LXXIX. fig. 1. 
My hopes of further elucidating the singular extinct gigantic Kangaroo so indicated 
have been, through the kindness of friends and correspondents in Australia, abundantly 
fulfilled. The grounds of the formation of a distinct genus of Macropodidce, of which 
the “ Goliah” is the type, are given in the section (§5) descriptive of the smaller species, 
Procoptodon Pusio. As in that species, the two lobes of the molar (Plate LXXIX. fig. 1, 
m i, 2 , 3 ) have a more regular elliptic basal section than in the foregoing genera ; their outer 
and inner ends are more convex or bulging ; they are not separated by so deep a valley, 
and this lodges a greater proportion of hard enamel in the form of irregular subundu- 
late ridges, affecting mostly the longitudinal direction, the chief of which may, however, 
be homologized with the mid link of more normal Macropods. The fore surface of the 
front lobe and the hind surface of the back lobe are similarly sculptured by irregular 
ridges, of which two are more conspicuous than the rest at the back of the molar, within 
a depressed area defined by the abrupt sharp margins, inflected upon that surface of the 
outer and inner convex ends of the hind lobe. The unworn summits of both lobes 
are less regularly or extensively transverse than in ordinary Kangaroos, the inner angle 
curved backward. There is a low and short prebasal ridge, but no such definite pro- 
duction from the back part of the hind lobe. 
The fore pier of the zygoma, at least so much of the hind part thereof as was preserved 
in the present fragment, stands out opposite the antepenultimate tooth ( m 1 ), and its hind 
curve subsides before reaching the last molar. The narrow plate extending from the 
palatal wall of the alveoli terminates in a smooth and seemingly natural border. But 
this and other characters of the species are more fully and plainly illustrated by the 
specimens next to be described, of which I commence with the portion of a left maxil- 
lary, forming the subject of figures 2, 3, 4 of Plate LXXIX. 
This portion of jaw retains the five permanent molars (p 3 to m 3), but with some 
mutilation as well as wear of their crowns. The fore pier of the zygoma (ib. fig. 2, 21 ") 
springs out above the interval between the second ( d 4 ) and third ( m 1 ) molars; and as 
the last (m 3) is in place and shows wear, it may be concluded that this anterior portion 
of that pier is characteristic of Procoptodon. 
On the palatal surface of the bone (ib. figs. 3 and 4) the evidence of the same large 
vacuity as is indicated in the smaller species ( Procoptodon Pusio , Plate LXXYII. fig. 6) 
is unmistakable. The anterior ridge begins to curve to join its fellow opposite the 
* Part 2, Macropodidcc, 8vo, 1845, “ Macropus Goliah, Ow.,” p. 59. 
