274 
Professor Owen on the 
The mere record of species, irrespective of their relations, as it 
is the fundamental, so it is the lowest labour in zoological science. 
The present addition to the genus Phascolomys gives us a better 
insight into its typical characters, by showing the extent and kind 
of the variations in the skulls of two existing species. The geo¬ 
graphical relations of the Phascolomys Vombatus and Phase, 
latifrons will be interesting and suggestive, if further researches 
should prove the first to be restricted to the island of Tasmania, 
and the second to the continent of Australia.* With regard to 
other Australasian species of Marsupialia, the number that is 
common to Australia and the neighbouring island of Tasmania is 
remarkably small, as will be seen by the preceding table. 
With regard to the extensive tribe Po'cphaga (Macropodidce 
and Hypsiprymnidce), certain subgeneric groups have particular 
localizations. Thus Potorous, Heteropus, and Hypsiprymnus 
proper are peculiar to continental Australia. Certain well-defined 
genera are also restricted in their present geographical range, as 
shown in the following Table :— 
GENERA OF MARSUPIALIA. 
Peculiar to 
Common to both. 
Australia. 
Van Diemen’s Land. 
Myrmecobius. 
Chceropus. 
Tarsipes 
Acrobata. 
Petaurus. 
Phascolarctus. 
Thylacinus. 
Sarcophilus (Dasyurus ur- 
einus, Auct.). 
Dasyurus. 
Phascogale. 
Perameles. 
Phalanglsta. 
Hypsiprymnus. 
Macropus. 
But it was not always so. Fossil remains of extinct species of 
Thylacinus and Sarcophilus have been found in the ossiferous 
caverns of Australia. The extinct continental species of Phasco¬ 
lomys, which I have called Phase. Milchelli, much more closely 
resembles the Tasmanian Phase. Vombatus, in the form and 
degree of curvature of the upper incisors, than it does the Phase, 
latifrons. I have recently obtained evidence from the post- 
» It will bo seen by reference to the minutes of the Tasmanian Society, in our 
last number, under date April 21,1847, that our indefatigable and xealous friend Dr. E. C. 
Hobson, of Melbourne, has already ascertained the existence at Port Phillip of both species 
of Wombat.— Ed. Tasm. Journ. 
