The occurrence of gigantic marsupials in Tasmania

It had hitherto been generally believed that the gigantic marsupials were restricted to the continent of Australia, and did not occur in Tasmania. Jack and Etheridge (see footnotes) mention their wide distribution on the continent, and Professor Stirling is of the opinion "that this great marsupial appears to have had an immense range, and to have probably wandered over the whole Continent of Australia." R. M. Johnston, who is better acquainted with the geology of Tasmania than anybody else, states that "in Tasmania no remains of the extinct marsupials, such as Diprotodon, Nototherium, and Thylacoleo, have as. yet been found either in the ossiferous cavern breccias or in the older alluvial beds." It seems rather strange that nobody took the view that remains of such animals ought also to occur in Tasmania.<br>Howitt had already, in 1898, expressed the opinion that Tasmania was connected with the mainland in geologically recent times, and Hedley in 1903, holds the same view.<br>Conseqviently, the discovery of remains of a gigantic marsupial in Tasmania should not have created the general surpi-ise they did. When, in 1910, the news that bones of a gigantic marsupial had been discovered in the Mowbray swamp, near Smithton, became known, the discovery was at first somewhat discredited. However, confirmation soon came, and the remains were purchased by the Launceston Museum from their discoverer, Mr. Lovett. Mr. Scott, the Curator of the Museum, has since described them under the name of Nototherium tasmaniense, but I am somewhat doubtful whether a new species is justified.