570 
PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE FOSSIL MAMMALS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Table of Localities of Drprotodon australis, showing : — 
Where found. 
By whom. 
Date. 
Breccia-cavern, Wellington Valley* * 
Sir Thomas Mitchell, C.B 
1836 
Tributaries of Condamine River, Darling Downs t 
Sir Thomas Mitchell, C.B 
1842 
Quaternary gravel, Mount Macedon, Melbourne J 
E. C. Hobson, M.D 
1843-45 
Tributaries of Condamine River, Darling Downs § 
Ludwig Leichhardt, M.D 
1844 
Freshwater beds, Mount Macedon, Melbourne j| 
Patrick Mayne, Esci 
1844 
Bone-caves, Wellington Valley 
Count Strzelecki 
1844 
King’s Creek, Darling Downs 
Mr. Turner 
1847 
Gowrie, Darling Downs 
Fred. Neville Isaac, Esq. . . 
1849 
1 Galtendaddai, Melville Plains 
Wm. Buchanan, Esq. 
1851 
! Creeks, Darling Downs 
Henry Hughes, Esq. . . 
1856 
j Gowrie, Darling Downs 
John E. Allport, Esq. . . 
1860 
Welcome Springs, South Australia** 
Fred. Geo. Waterhouse, Esq. . . 
1861 
[ Valley of Condamine tf 
J. H. Hood, Esq 
1861 
Portland Bay, South Australia 
James S. Wilson, Esq. . . . 
1860 
Hergott’s Springs, Mount Attraction, 500 miles N. of Adelaide jt 
William Burrett, Esq 
1861 
Eton Vale, middle of Darling Downs 
Edward S. Hill, Esq. . . 
1863 
St. Ruth Station, Tributary of Condamine River 
Hugh Campbell, Esq 
1865 
St. Jean Station, Queensland 
M. Satche St. Jean 
1865 
Clifton Plains, Darling Downs 
F. Nicholson, Esq 
1866 
Breccia- cavern, Wellington Valley 
Gerard Krefft, Esq 
1866 
To this letter I was favoured with, the following reply : — 
(Copy.) 
“ Colonial Secretary’s Office, Sydney, New South Wales, 
16th June, 1869. 
“ Sib,— With reference to your letter of the 23rd of February, 1867, recommending that the Government of 
this Colony should cause a careful and systematic exploration to be made of the Limestone-caves of Wellington 
Valley, I have now the honour to inform you that the sum of £200 has been voted by the local Parliament for 
carrying out your suggestion, and that the Curator of the Australian Museum has been charged with the duty 
of making the necessary exploration. 
“ I have the honour to be, Sir, 
“ Your most obedient Servant, 
(Signed) “ John Robertson, Colonial Secretary.” 
“ To Professor Owen, F.R.S.” 
I was gratified by reading in ‘ The Times ’ of December 1st, 1869, a notice from the Sydney Correspondent 
of that Newspaper to the effect that “the Wellington Bone-caves have been explored by Dr. A. M. Thomson 
and Mr. Keefft of the (Sydney) Museum, with astonishing and unexpected results.” 
* See description of these Bone-caves by their discoverer in his ‘ Three Expeditions into the Interior of 
Eastern Australia,’ 8vo, vol. ii. 1838. 
f Sir T. Mitchell places the locality in lat. 28° S., long. 150° E. ; and of the Condamine, he writes : “ This 
stream is remarkable from forming large basins at some places and losing its course in swamps at others, and 
at other parts again cutting its course in a deep channel, through deep beds of alluvium, in which these bones 
[of Diprotodon ] are thus brought to light.” — Letter dated January 3, 1842. 
+ Dr. Hobson, in transmitting these specimens, sent a sketch of the locality with the following Note : — 
“ The country from Melbourne is volcanic the whole way ; indeed the bank which borders the estuary on 
which the town is built is the commencement of vast elevated plains of volcanic origin, covered with vesicular 
lava, scoriae, interrupted by deep ravines, which show on their sieep sides, in many places, a regular columnar 
basaltic arrangement. Of this nature is the entire country betwixt Mount Macedon and Melbourne, gradually 
rising, but so slightly as to be almost imperceptible, till you arrive at the volcanic hills that immediately sur- 
round Mount Macedon, which is, I believe, composed of granite on its top, and of schistose slates on its side. 
