Palaeontological notes. No. IV
Abstract
It is surprising that up to the present there is no record of the finding of fossil marsupials in the large island of New Guinea, which in its recent fauna presents a strong similarity to the Australian continent, a similarity which without doubt obtained also in the Pleistocene and earlier. The existence today of the cassowary, echidna, tree kangaroos, wallabies, and other marsupials on both sides of Torres Strait, indicates that at one time there was land communication between Australia and New Guinea, and it is natural to expect that some of the extinct forms which are of common occurrence in Australia would also be found in the neighbouring island. That they have not previously been recognized there is probably due to the fact that until recently there were no mining, quarrying, or other operations in New Guinea, activities which often result in the discovery of fossil bones.
