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Show 778 PROF. BALDWIN SPENCER ON A [Nov. 20, its teeth broken away. That it must have lain for some time exposed within reach of the tide is shown by the fact that a barnacle three quarters of an inch in diameter has grown attached to a fragment of the sacral region. W h e n it was originally found (and as it came into m y hands) only a small portion of the broken under surface of the skull was visible. A portion of one side of the lower jaw, parts of ten vertebral bodies, a portion of the sacrum, a broken ilium, various bones of the hinder limbs, one of the marsupial bones, and parts of ribs were also visible. All traces of teeth, shoulder-girdle and front limbs, hind feet and tail were unfortunately lacking. The ten vertebras are but little disturbed, the zygapophyses of eight fitting closely on to one another. By dint of careful working, the comparatively soft matrix which is full of Turritella-shells was removed, and the remains of the skull, lower jaw, femur, and tibia were extracted. One of tbe coronoid processes was found between the zygoma of the right side and the cranium, detached from the lower jaw and inverted in position ; but though a considerable part of the matrix has been worked away, not a trace of a tooth could be found. There can be little doubt but that the lower jaw and pelvic girdle had been smashed before the specimen was finally embedded in the matrix; the pectoral girdle and limbs and possibly also the hind feet were contained in the part of the block from which the preserved portion was broken off, while weathering will account for the damage done to the lower part of the skull and the hind-limb bones. The strongly inflected angle of tbe lower jaw, the general structure of the skull and the marsupial bones indicate tbe essentially marsupial nature of the animal; but at the same time it will be seen, when dealing with various parts of the skeleton, that this early Australian mammal show?s structural features which in certain respects are not characteristic of liviug marsupials, and in others are characteristic of various groups belonging on the one hand to the Diprotodontia and on the other to the Polyprotodontia. The name of: Wynyardia bassiana is proposed for the fossil, the generic name being derived from that of the township close to which lie the Table Cape beds in which it was found. The Skull. (Figs. 1 & 2, PL XL1X., & fig. 5, PI. L.) The upper surface of the skull is fairly intact, but the lower is unfortunately broken, the exoccipital and basioccipital, the auditory bullae and the palatal region being absent. The most striking features are (1) the considerable relative size of the cranial as compared with the facial portion, (2) the strong development of the sagittal crest and the lambdoidal crista, (3) the broad sweep and upward curvature of tbe zygomatic arch, (4) tbe large size of the squamosal, (5) the large size of the lachrymals, |
