274 
PROFESSOR OWEN ON A LARGE EXTINCT 
neur-arterial canal, Jc, indicates the ulnar trochlea and divides the process, j, from the 
articular tuberosity or condyle, l, for the head of the radius. A very small proportion 
of this condyle is continued upon the anconal surface of the humerus (Plate 14, fig 2); 
the convexity there changes to a concavity, u, for the ulna, and from e is continued 
the ectepicondyle, h, as a well-marked outstanding process. 
The above partial description, with the annexed figures, of this, perhaps, most 
modified, after the Mole’s, of Mammalian humeri, suffices to show that we have the 
bone of a Monotreme under comparison, and that it must be referred to the terrestrial 
and fossorial genus represented at the present time by a much smaller species— 
Echidna hystrix (Cuv.). 
The subject of the foregoing description was one of several other remains of phy¬ 
tophagous and insectivorous Marsupials, surpassing, like Nototherium and Phascolonus, 
the still existing Kangaroos and Wombats in bulk, and which, from the fractured 
state and markings of their bones, I conclude were dragged as prey by the sole 
Carnivore of adequate strength and size, at the remote period antecedent, probably, 
to the advent of the biped population of Australia. To the hunger of these so-called 
aborigines for animal food I am disposed to refer the final disappearance of Beasts, of 
Birds (- Dromornis , of twice the bulk of the present Emeu, for example), and of JReptiles 
(of which Megalania is an instance), conspicuous by their bulk, and as unable as the 
Elephants of Africa assailed by Negroes to resist the attacks of Man when impelled 
by the rage of hunger. Such Kangaroos as were not disabled by their weight from a 
rapid saltatory flight have survived with the smaller, easily-concealed kinds. A small 
burrowing Wombat ( Phascolomys ) still survives ; its skeleton and dentition have en¬ 
abled me to interpret the nature and affinities of its huge extinct ally, the Phascolone. 
So, likewise, the small burrowing ant-devourer, still maintaining an existence, eluci¬ 
dates the affinities of its larger ancient congener. 
I had long hoped to receive some fossil evidences of the Monotremes peculiar to 
Australasia, the lowest modification of the Mammalian class, represented by the 
aquatic insectivore, the Ornithorhynchus, and by the terrestrial kind, Echidna, closely 
resembling the placental ant-eaters. 
For some years after the demise-of Cuvier, both genera were deemed peculiar to 
the Australian and Tasmanian dismemberments of the great southern continent; but, 
of late, a species ( Echidna Bruijnii )* and a second kind ( Echidna Laioesii )+ have been 
found living in the northern tract of New Guinea. Both these species somewhat 
exceed in size the Australian varieties known as Echidna hystrix (Shaw), and Echidna 
setosa (Home) ; but the fossil here described ( Echidna Ramsayi) shows that a species 
* Gervais, “ Osteographie des Monotremes vivants et fossiles,” Atlas, plates vi. and vii. 
f Ramsay, E. P., “Note of a species of Echidna from Port Moresby, New Guinea,” Proceedings of 
the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. ii., p. 3. A notice by Mr. Krefft has appeared in the 
‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History ’ (vol. i., p. 113), of fossil remains ascribed to the genus 
Echidna. 
