Abstract
THE appearance of the third and concluding part of Prof. Wood Jones's work on the mammals of South Australia is a timely reminder that Australia has quite an extensive indigenous fauna of non-marsupial mammals. The overwhelming interest of the marsupials has led to the neglect of the other native mammals, even by the professional zoologist, and adequate material for study is wanting. This state of affairs should be remedied as a result of this memoir. More than one hundred species of monodelphians are known from Australia, over seventy of which are carefully described and figured by the author. His appeal for more work on the Australian non-marsupial mammalia comes with all the stronger force when so useful a guide to them accompanies it, and it is made not a moment too soon, for the inroads into the native fauna by introduced species extends equally to these mammals as to the marsupials. Prof. Jones tells a sad tale of the effects of rabbits, rats, mice, foxes, and cats on the indigenous species. His chapter on the dingo is of special interest. He believes it to be an introduced domestic dog of the true northern wolf type, and the evidence he brings forward on this point is convincing. We are glad to have so authoritative an opinion on the origin of this animal.
The Mammals of South Australia.
By Dr. Frederic Wood Jones. (Handbooks of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia, issued by the British Science Guild (South Australian Branch), and published by favour of the Honourable the Premier.) Part 3 (conclusion), containing The Monodelphia. Pp. 271–458. (Adelaide: R. E. E. Rogers, 1925.)
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The Mammals of South Australia . Nature 118, 477 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/118477b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/118477b0