T H K T A S M A XIA X NAT U R A LI ST. 
•occupied my mind, and having made as exhaustive a comparison with 
the descriptive types, as was, and is possible, I am convinced that it 
deserves to rank as specifically distinct from the mainland form, and 
therefore propose the name— 4 Nototherium lasmanicum.’ 
In this connection it is of interest to note that the existing 
wombat of Tasmania has recently been determined by Professor Baldwin 
Spencer of the National Museum, Melbourne, as a specifically distinct 
form, with osteological characters that separate it from the Australian 
animal: and, therefore, it is of importance to find that the extinct 
Gigantic Wombat also differed from the mainland congener of its day. 
In justice to myself and others, 1 must say that I strongly opposed the 
idea of the wombat under review being so specifically separated, and 
for some time collected evidence with a view to refuting any such 
classification — as is noted by Professor Spencer in his 4 Memoirs of 
the National Museum, Melbourne/ No. 3 — so that no one can charge 
me with being a rabid species maker. My conviction of the specific 
distinction of this Nototherium came slowly, and was quite at variance 
with my co-existing belief; but I now feel sure if every bone of the 
animal were laid side by side with the type specimens, they would show 
departures equally significant with those detailed below. 
To be historically recapitulative, 1 must say that Professor Owen 
created three species of Nototheria, the first and best defined being 
** Nototherium mitchelli/ which, according to Richard Lydekker—Cat. 
Toss. Mam., Brit. Mus., Vol 5, page 162—is the only true species, 
and is made by that osteologist to include * Inerme ’ and ‘Victoria/ 
which were Professor Owen’s second and third species. 
As ‘Inerme’ was founded upon what appears to be an immature 
•skull, its inclusion into the list of typical species is hardly a loss, but it still 
remains for palaeontologists to fight the question of the second species 
— namely, 4 victorias f and if it can be shown that this actually was a 
good species, a comparison of the three extinct species with existing 
wombats will furnish some interesting evidence for the biologist. The 
species * victorias/ as detailed by Owen, owed its existence to certain 
minor skull characters only, but the other bones of the skeleton, if 
Recovered, might reveal additional characters of sufficient importance to 
re-establish the species, and, personally, I should like to see ‘ victorias ’ 
again elevated to the rank of a true species. 
Skull. 
As the skull of this specimen is so very fragmentary, and needs 
such careful restoration before it can be exhibited, I have thought it 
best to delay the description of its osteology in detail until a later 
date, and will therefore proceed to the study of the mandible. 
Lower jaws. 
The lower jaws of our specimen were recovered in several pieces, 
but can now be practically restored in toto, and when compared with 
•tly type give the following results : — 
