PHASCOLOMYS WOMBAT, Pe.

Wombat.

et Les.

 

 

 

HEAD, OF THE SIZE OF LIFE.

I wisn it to be understood that, an interval of eighteen years having passed away between
the commencement and termination of the present work, there may be some instances
in which opinions expressed in years gone by now require modification. When I pub-
lished the reduced figures of this animal, I remarked that it was uncertain whether there
was more than one species of the genus Phascolomys. I now, in 1868, feel confident that
there are three, if not four, quite distinct Wombats—one inhabiting Tasmania, or Van
Diemen’s Land, and certainly two, if not three, the opposite portion of the Australian
continent.

The life-sized portrait given on the opposite Plate was taken from a Van Diemen’s
Land animal. It will be seen that it is very dark in colour—a feature common, I believe,
to most of the specimens in that island; I have, however, heard of lighter-coloured ex-
amples being occasionally seen, but none have come under my own observation. It will
be observed that, independently of the difference of colour, it is a small animal when

compared with P. latifrons. 1 would call the attention of Professor M‘Coy and one
: who have opportunities of studying the Wombats in their native country fe the import-
ance of investigating their history, since it is to them that the mammalogists of uate
and this should be done speedily ;

Marsupials will soon become

must look for accurate information on the subject:
for, like the Badger in England, these large and singular

scarce. |
1 i in the menagerie
My figure was taken from an individual which lived for many years in g

of the Zoological Society of London.

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63

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