The Washington herald., 1921-05-22
FINDS HUGE SKULL
MFOSSIL REMAINS
Australia Proves Fertile Field
For Studies of the
Geologist.
'SPecih cable to The Washington Herald
and Chicago Tribune
By j. VI. MYERS.

SYDNEY. May 21.-Pieces- of a
huge marsupial skull have recently
been discovered at BrigaIow. on the
Darling Downs. Queensland. Aus
tralia. and have been restored by
the curator of the Queensland mu-
scum, Mr.. Longman.
Sir Edgeworth David, professor of
geology at the Sydney university
and the well known member of the
Shackleton Antarctic expedition, has
AFFORDED some interesting comments
on this discovery. He states that
the part of Australia where the
skull was discovered has proved ex-
tremely. rich in well preserved re-
mains OF great variety of large
extinct marsupials. For example.
nne collections of skeletons of ele
phant-like mahsupials such as dipro-
todon nototherium, a gigantic bony
plated lizard kno-+n as megaIania
over twelve feet in length, and a
gigantic fresh water turtle called
miolania-have been preserved in
various Australian museums.
Find Famous skull.
Not far from the scene of the re-
cent discovery Cat a place called
Dalrymple Creek) a famous human
skull was discovered some years
ago and is probably the Oldest trace
OF man that has. been found anv
where in Australia The canine
teetn snow the remarkable pecu-
larity of not meeting. as they do in
modern man, but sliding past one
another as they do in the case of
the anthropoid apes. Such a pecu-
llarity has been observed in only
one other human skull. the Pitt
down skull of Sussex. This last is
estimated to be one of the very old
est traces of man yet found, dating
back perhaps 100. 900 to 900, 900
years. The only other skull that
possibly may prove to be older is
that known as the Javanese skull
of Trinil. which. on account of its
close relation to the monkey, has
been called pithecan anthropos 1.-THE
monkey mani.
The strata of the rocks in the
Condamine River (Which waters the
district where the recent discover
les were made) in other parts of
the world have yielded remains of
the gigantic animals known as
dinosaurs. the largest land animals
hitherto discovered. The length of
some of these probably exceeded
100 feet They probably walked
more or less erect on their power
ful hind legs, balancing 20 on them
and their thick tails, like the kan
garoo. Strata of this age in Aus
tralia have. however, not yet yield
ed any trace of these monsters, with
. AA -, -
dinosaur. which was found in Vic
toria-
Find Many Remains.
For the most part. the skulls of
the dinosaurs would not compare in
width with that of the recently dis
covered giant marsupial in Queens
land. The skull of another type of
dinosaur, a huge three-horned crea-
ture. with the base. of it's skull ex-
panded into an enormous bony COL
lar. and known as the triceratops.
was considerably longer than the
marsupial skull just found and pos
sibly wider at its base. All these
dinosaurs belong to a period per-
haps 100000 to 100000, 900 years
ago.
Prof. David added that enormous
NUMBERS Oh SKELETONS OF neT-
bivorous marsupials. belonging to
the glacial epoch. have been dis
covered in Central and South Aus
tralia- Whilst the higher land in
Australia. was undergoing glacia-
ton. land at lower levels and near
er the equator. like the Darling
Downs. in Queensland. had a cool
but humid climate. During this
period of GOODNESS and humidity
the Australian crocodile (popularly
known as the alligator) travelled
south. and a great repository of re-
mains of these and other animals is
known TO exist in mud springs in
New South Wales. As the glacial
epoch finally passed away and the
climate became drier and hotter
the gigantic marsupials were con-
fronted with death from thirst and |
starvation. As in the case of mod
ern stock in the interior of Aus-
tralia during drought, they |
crowded in weakened state
around natural springs, but became
begged in the soft clay and were
entombed.
The distinguished professor hopes
some day to lead a scientific expe-
dition to excavate systematically \
the area of springs where probably
these monsters of a .bygone age met