
DINGO, 115 
dogs, or offering reasons why it should not be considered as in- 
digenous, I may briefly state that I believe it has followed the black 
man in his wanderings from southern Asia through the Indian 
Islands to Australia, the southern portion of which country appears 
to be its boundary in this direction ; for I believe it has never been 
found in Tasmania in the wild or semi-wild state in which it occurs 
‘on the Australian continent. From what I saw of the animal in a 
state of nature I could not but regard it in the light of a variety to 
which the course of ages had given a wildness of air and disposition.” 
In the ‘¢ Mammals of Australia” he published an extract froma 
letter written by Mr. Krefft:—‘‘In reply to your inquiry, I beg to 
state that it is proved without a doubt, as far as my own judgment 
goes, that the dingo is an original inhabitant of the Australian con- 
tinent. There is now, at the museum in Melbourne, a fossil skull 
found with other animal remains, in a cave at Mount Macedon, by 
Mr. Selwyn, the Geological surveyor of Victoria. This skull] 
according to the authority of Professor McCoy, is identical with 
that of the dingo of the present day.” Smythe’s Aboriginals of 
Victoria gives these facts: ‘‘In a well section at Tower Hill, 
western Victoria, sixty-three feet of volcanic ash was passed 
through, and then sixty feet of blue and yellow clay; here were 
found the skull and bones of the dingo.” Again: “At Lake 
Tjmboon, western Victoria, bones of the dingo were found associated 
with those of the Tasmanian devil, those of Macropus titan, and 
bones and teeth of Diprotodon.” Mr. Ogilby writes: ‘‘ The recog- 
nition by Professor McCoy of fossil remains, in no wise differing 
from those of recent individuals, sets this question at rest, and goes 
far towards proving that this species is indigenous to Australia, and 
was an inhabitant thereof prior to its colonization by man, no human 
remains of such antiquity having as yet been discovered. Professor 
McCoy in his ‘ Prodromus of Paleontology’ observes, ‘The dingo 
was really one of the most ancient of the indigenous mammals of the 
country, and abounded as now most probably before man himself 
appeared. Our present species, although still living in great num- 
bers, I have no doubt dates from the Rliocene Tertiary time, and I 
find on the most minute comparison and measurements no difference 
between the fossil and recent individuals, either of the adult age or 
of the younger periods before the milk teeth were shed to give place 
tmolarteeth,’” Mr. Ogilby says: ‘‘ These remarks 
to the permanen ; ; 
from aH high an authority, having the concurrence of Professor 
Mivart, cannot be ignored,” 
