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PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE FOSSIL MAMMALS OF AUSTRALIA. 
about three lines in advance of the naso-premaxillary suture, and are bevelled off to an 
obtuse point from without obliquely inward and forward. Together these bones form 
the middle third of the upper border of the external bony nostril. The frontals (n) make 
a slight projection into the middle of the fronto-nasal suture, which from this shallow 
indent runs outward and a little forward to the nasal process of the maxillary ( 21 )*. The 
naso-maxillary suture forms the hind fifth part of the lateral border of the nasals ; the 
naso-premaxillary suture runs along the rest of the extent of the nasal bones ; i. e. to 
the beginning of their free ends, which are short and subobtuse. 
Nasal bones and their connexions, Nasal bones and their connexions, 
var. 2, Phascolomys vombatus, Geoffr. var. 3, Pliascolornys vombatus, Geoffr. 
In a second Tasmanian Wombat the nasals (fig. 1, 15 ) differ from those above described 
in their basal breadth, this being equal to rather more than three fourths of their length, 
or as 77 to 100, also in the absence of any mesial indent of the fronto-nasal suture, and 
in the sharper convergence forward of the hinder fourth part of the lateral margins. 
These margins describe a similar wavy course, convex outwards along the middle third, 
or a little in advance of it. The apices overhanging the nostril are less sharp and pro- 
minent than in the last or type specimen. 
In a third younger Phascolomys vombatus (fig. 2) the lateral margins converge more 
gradually and in an almost straight line from the base to the anterior fourth of the 
nasals, where the margins extend nearly straight to the nostril. The middle sixth 
part of the fronto-nasal suture is slightly concave ; the rest extends outward and more 
obliquely forward than in the two preceding specimens. The apices of the nasals 
projecting beyond the premaxillo-nasal sutures are sharp, and form one fifth the length 
* This specimen, figured in my first paper (Joe. cit.), shows the usual characters aud is not here figured : the 
references to the numerical symbols of the bones, in aid of the description, are seen in the subjects of the two 
Woodcuts showing the varieties. 
