MAY, 1921. AMERICAN MARSUPIAL, C^NOLESTES OSGOOD. 7 



Again in the concluding paragraph of the very important Catalogue 

 of Marsupialia and Monotremata in the British Museum (Thomas 

 1888) it receives only this slight mention: 



"And, finally, one animal, referred to this Order, has been so in- 

 sufficiently described that no idea of its proper position can be gained, 

 nor have any further specimens of it been collected. This is 



"Hyracodon fuliginosus, Tomes, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 50, pi. viii (animal). 



"Hab. Ecuador." 



So meager were the data regarding it, that Lydekker (1894) com- 

 pletely ignored it in his very comprehensive Hand-book of Marsupials 

 and Monotremes. Thus for more than thirty years after its discovery 

 the subject of this monograph remained almost as unknown as if no 

 specimen existed. In 1895, however, a second specimen, consisting of a 

 skin and skull, was received at the British Museum and in two brief 

 but important papers (Thomas 1895) was promptly described, tenta- 

 tively classified, and figured. Its obvious affinity with extinct Patagonian 

 forms was at once recognized and its importance in connection with 

 theories of the dispersal of marsupials was noted. The preoccupied 

 name Hyracodon was discarded and a new name, Canolestes, was pro- 

 posed as well as another specific name, obscurus, the second specimen 

 having been obtained in the Bogota region and appearing to represent 

 a different species of larger size. The following extracts from these 

 papers of Thomas are of interest: 



"In vindication of Mr. Tomes's paper I should like to say, firstly, 

 that his description, hitherto supposed (from our ignorance of any such 

 animal) to be imperfect or incorrect, proves to agree, so far as it goes, 

 very closely with the present specimen; and, secondly, that remarks on 

 the affinities of the animal must have been at that time more easily 

 wanted than given, since even now, with infinitely greater material and 

 the best of advice, I am unable to be at all positive about the exact 

 position and relationships of the little marsupial described by Mr. 

 Tomes." 



"The rediscovery of this long-lost genus, whose wide distinction 

 from all other living marsupials its original describer does not appear 

 to have fully appreciated, is one of the most interesting events in 

 mammalogy that has happened for many years. A full description of the 

 animal will be given elsewhere; but it may be here briefly stated (i) 

 that Canolestes represents among the marsupials a family, and, perhaps, 

 a suborder, entirely different from any now living; and (2) that it is 

 closely related to, and evidently a surviving representative of, some of 

 the fossil marsupials from the Santa Cruz beds of Patagonia." 



"Apart from this, the survival to the present day of a member of so 



