148 
On the Bunyip of Port Phillip. 
it through the kindness of my friend Edward Curr, Esq., of St. 
Heliers, near Melbourne, who obtained the loan of it from Mr. 
Fletcher, and forwarded it to Launceston for my inspection. 
From the letters of His Excellency C. J. Latrobe, Esq., and 
more especially from those of Mr. Curr, I have drawn the pre¬ 
ceding particulars. 
I at once submitted the 6kull to my friend Dr. James Grant, 
whose report I subjoin, illustrated by three very accurate draw¬ 
ings :— 
19 th February, 1846. 
My Dear Sin,—It is to be regretted that we have no museum 
in these colonies to which we might refer in cases like this of the 
so called Bunyip, where an apparently new form presents itself. 
The skull is that of a very young animal, probably even foetal; 
and although the general form of the head and the arrangement 
of the teeth are different from those of any animal with which I 
am acquainted, 1 am not aware how much of this apparent 
peculiarity may not be owing to the mere circumstance of imper¬ 
fect development. It has been suggested that it might prove to 
be that of a young camel, a few of which animals were introduced 
to Australia about seven years since. I send you three drawings, 
(plates III., IV.,and V.,)which exhibit different views of the skull. 
It is that of a large herbivorous animal; the bones are very smooth, 
thin, and some of them imperfectly ossified ; the two sides of the 
head are not symmetrical, and the teeth were covered with a 
membrane, which I scraped off in order to make the drawings. 
From its general appearance the skull could not have been 
exposed many months. There is a very unusual disproportion 
between the relative sizes of the face and of the cranium—the 
former being very small, while the latter is very much developed; 
the brain must have been of enormous magnitude. The smallness 
of the muzzle seems to be partly owing to the circumstance that 
the three molar teeth (plates III. IV., e. f. g.) are placed very far 
forward in the mouth. Immediately anterior to these are two 
small sockets (h) apparently for small premolars; but as the front 
part of the palate plate has been broken off I cannot say whether 
there were any incisor teeth, especially as it is impossible to trace 
