Some of these caves were examined by the late Sir T. Mitchell in the Wellington
Valley, about 210 miles west of Sidney, on the river Bell, one of the principal
sources of the Macquarie, and on the Macquarie itself. The caverns often branch
off in different directions through the rock, widening and contracting their
dimensions, and the roofs and floors are covered with stalactite. The bones are
often broken, but do not seem to be water-worn. In some places they lie imbedded
in loose earth, but they are usually included in a breccia.
The remains belong to marsupial animals. Among the most abundant are those of
the kangaroo, of which there are four species, while others belong to the genera
Phascolomys, the wombat; Dasyurus, the ursine opossum; Phalangista, the vulpine
opossum; and Hypsiprymnus, the kangaroo-rat.
(FIGURE 91. Part of lower jaw of Macropus atlas. Owen. A young individual of an
extinct species.
a. Permanent false molar, in the alveolus.)
(FIGURE 92. Lower jaw of largest living species of kangaroo. (Macropus major.))
In the fossils above enumerated, several species are larger than the largest
living ones of the same genera now known in Australia.
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