Credit: ©The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10056
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Thylacoleo fossil skull
Date
1889
Object type
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 182mm
width (print): 144mm
height (mount): 295mm
width (mount): 243mm
width (print): 144mm
height (mount): 295mm
width (mount): 243mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Photograph of the fossilized skull of an Australian carnivorous marsupial from the genusThylacoleo, the ‘Pouch Lion’, probably Thylacoleo carnifex. The specimen is shown with an accompanying scale.
One of eight photographs sent to the Royal Society by the Australian Museum, Sydney. A covering letter of 1 August 1889 by Sutherland Sinclair, Secretary to the Museum, states that: “In accordance with Dr Ramsay’s promise [Edward Pierson Ramsay (1842–1916)] I have pleasure in advising the despatch per parcel post of a small box containing casts of Thylacoles palate [?] and I send by book post today a packet of photographs of the same...” The photographs are endorsed as being received 13 September 1889.
The receipt of these items coincided with the loan to the Royal Society of an original skull by the Department of Mines, Sydney, which was examined by the zoologist Edwin Ray Lankester (1847-1929). This was apparently in support of the refereeing of a paper submitted to the Philosophical Transactions by Richard Owen FRS (1804-1892). Owen wrote several Royal Society papers on the Thylacoleo and engaged in an ongoing controversy with William Henry Flower FRS (1831-1899) and others on the nature of this extinct animal.
One of eight photographs sent to the Royal Society by the Australian Museum, Sydney. A covering letter of 1 August 1889 by Sutherland Sinclair, Secretary to the Museum, states that: “In accordance with Dr Ramsay’s promise [Edward Pierson Ramsay (1842–1916)] I have pleasure in advising the despatch per parcel post of a small box containing casts of Thylacoles palate [?] and I send by book post today a packet of photographs of the same...” The photographs are endorsed as being received 13 September 1889.
The receipt of these items coincided with the loan to the Royal Society of an original skull by the Department of Mines, Sydney, which was examined by the zoologist Edwin Ray Lankester (1847-1929). This was apparently in support of the refereeing of a paper submitted to the Philosophical Transactions by Richard Owen FRS (1804-1892). Owen wrote several Royal Society papers on the Thylacoleo and engaged in an ongoing controversy with William Henry Flower FRS (1831-1899) and others on the nature of this extinct animal.
Associated place