Rapacity of Tasmanian Fish. 
311 
THYLACINUS HARRISII. 
There is a peculiarity of structure in the incisor teeth of the young 
Thylacine, which soon wears off with age, and may therefore have 
escaped general observation. The incisor teeth of the lower jaw are 
deeply channelled transversely, and when the mouth is closed those of 
the upper jaw fit accurately into the groove thus formed in the lower. 
I am not aware that this structure is found in any other animal.— 
James Grant, Launceston . 
ON THE FOSSIL BONES AT MOUNT MACEDON—PORT 
PHILLIP. 
The road to Mount Maccdon from Melbourne is over a well marked 
volcanic country, rising very gradually, and almost imperceptibly. 
These elevated plains are covered with vesicular lava and scoria, and are 
interrupted occasionally by deep ravines ; the sides of which, in many 
places display well marked basaltic columns. J hc Bone locality is a 
large amphitheatre almost surrounded by conical volcanic hills ; the 
centre of the amphitheatre is on a much higher plain than its periphery, 
and on the top of the little truncated cone there is a marshy looking 
place covered by a peaty looking vegetation, and the. soil itself has much 
the character of peat for three or four feet below the surface. Under the 
peat is a bed of gravel, in which the hones are deposited in vast quanti¬ 
ties, but from there being immediately beneath the gravel a bed of firm 
ferruginous clay, the water is unable to escape ; aud in consequence, at 
this period of the year, it is a work of great labour to obtain any bones, 
and quite impossible to get them without mutilation, owing to the water 
pouring in to the part dug so fast as to prevent your seeing what you 
are about. Notwithstanding all this, and that we were there only one 
day, I succeeded in getting one incisor of an enormous Rodent, fully 
twelve inches long and one and a quarter inches broad, with three huge 
molars fully four times as large as those of a Rhinoceros; with 
bones of the gigantic Kangaroo and those of some large cursorial bird, 
probably an Emu. The marsh or bog is of the extent of about four 
acres, and appears to contain bones at every point —Extract from a 
letter by Dr. E. C. Hobson , dated January , 1845, to Mr. Ronald C. 
Gunn, Launceston. 
RAPACITY OF TASMANIAN FISIL 
Jessie, in liis Gleanings, mentions one or two instances of the great 
rapacity of the Pike : 1 do not think that it equals that ot the shark ol this 
country (Van ‘Diemen’s Land), or surpasses that of the lUaJicau. it is 
very common in fishing for either of these fish, after losing several 
hooks, to regain thorn all in fish subsequently caught, not uncommonly 
all in one. It has frequently occurred to me that these rapacious fish 
appear to be actuated by a spirit of revenge; for should one be wounded 
by a hook , it will be the first to lly at. a second bait, although the water 
may teem with fish of the same description ; this is sometimes the case 
with Flathoads, hut almost invariably eo with Sharks : I have known it 
occur at sea, by one whose jaw lias been most severely lacerated. The 
two following anecdotes are offered in elucidation : of the circumstances 
of the first, many gentlemen besides myself, still residing in this colony, 
were witnesses. 
About eight years since a party of gentlemen, myselt included, pro- 
