104 THE MAMMALIA. 



todon australis, whose skull is one metre in 

 length. It was obviously a plant-eater with a 

 specialised dentition, as is proved by the peculiar 

 incisors and the compressed cheek-teeth, which are 

 separated from the incisors by a considerable gap. 

 According to Owen's masterly comparisons, in 

 Cuvier's style, Diprotodon was a gigantic kangaroo, 

 but without the power of leaping. Like most of 

 the primeval species which attained an unusual 

 development of strength and a certain monstrosity 

 of form, it has not left any direct descendants, but 

 together with it there lived, in those days, powerful 

 creatures closely related to the kangaroos, such as 

 Palorchestes, with a skull 40 cm. in length. 



Wombats also (Phascolomys), of which there 

 exist only a few species, find then- fossil com- 

 pletion in numerous species of this genus, and 

 partly corresponded with them as regards size, and 

 partly far surpassed them. They appear all to 

 have been root-eaters, and, as is well known, the 

 habitus of the Eodents is repeated in a remarkable 

 manner within the group of Marsupials. The one 

 that can most readily be compared with them is 

 the Nototherium y which again is a creature that far 

 exceeds the living species in size, with a skull of 

 the most ugly description imaginable. While the 



