THYLACOLEO 



147 



been syndactylous, and the authors of the account 1 of these bones 

 think that the fourth toe may have shared in this syndactyly. 

 The metatarsal of the fifth digit is enormously expanded at its 



FIG. 73. Diprotodon australis. (After Owen.) 



edge, and seems to have furnished a strong support to the 

 creature ; this is also seen in the metacarpal of the fore-limb. 

 Probably, therefore, Diprotodon was quadrupedal in its mode of 

 progression, with the em- 

 phasis laid upon the 

 little finger and the 

 little toe instead of, as 

 in ourselves, the first 

 toe The hind-foot of 

 the Diprotodon could 

 not be more unlike that 

 of a Kangaroo than it 

 actually is. 



Another giant among 

 these Marsupials was the 

 genus Thylacoleo, whose name was given to it by Sir Eichard 

 Owen on the view that it was a Marsupial Tiger. Sir W. Flower 

 has, however, controverted this opinion, and the genus is in fact, 

 in spite of its large size, closely allied to the Phalangers and 



FIG. 74. Thylacoleo carnifex. Side view of skull. 

 (After Flower.) 



1 Stirling and Zietz, Mem. Roy. Soc. South Australia, i. ; see also a notice in 

 Nature, January 18, 1900. 



