354 
LECTURES ON PALAEONTOLOGY. 
analogously the chief land quadrupeds of the larger conti¬ 
nents ; the Dasyures, e.g ., play the parts of the foxes and 
marten cats ; the Bandicoots ( Terameles ), of the hedgehogs 
and shrews ; the Phalangers and Koolas, of the squirrels and 
monkeys ; the Wombats., of the beavers ; the Kangaroos, of 
the deer tribe. 
The first collection of the mammalian fossils from the 
Bone Breccias of the Australian caves had brought to light 
the former existence of large species of existing marsupial 
genera , some of which, for example, the Thylaeinus and Sar - 
cop/iilus , though now seemingly extinct in Australia Proper, 
are still represented by species in the adjacent island of Tas¬ 
mania; the others were fossil wombats, phalangers, potoroos, 
and kangaroos, but of different species. The fossils of the 
herbivorous marsupialia were of young or not full-grown 
animals, whence the Professor inferred that they had been 
dragged into the cave to be devoured. Subsequently, and 
at short intervals, fossils had been obtained from pliocene 
strata, and these had demonstrated the former existence of 
marsupial animals, representing the great pachyderms of 
Asia andthe megatherium of America, together with a mar¬ 
supial beast of prey, rivalling the lion or tiger in size, and 
equal to cope with the diprotodon or nototherium. 
Thus it was shown that, with regard to the last extinct 
(pliocene) kinds, as with the existing kinds of mammalia, 
particular forms were assigned to particular continents or 
provinces ; and, what was still more interesting and sugges¬ 
tive, the same forms were restricted to the same provinces 
at a former geological period as they are at the present day. 
Professor Owen next briefly stated the facts connected 
with the discovery of flint weapons, as yet the sole evidence 
of the human species that had been found associated with 
extinct pliostocene mammals, in caves or drift gravel. He 
concluded by summing up the principal generalizations in 
the fossil mammalia, and elucidated them by a comprehensive 
diagram, showing thdir geological and geographical distri¬ 
bution .—The Times. 
