BY R. BROOM. Gl 



Gerard Krefft,* formerly Curator of the Australian Museum, 

 Sydney, published in the same year as Flower dealt with this 

 subject, a short note in the Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History, in which he states his belief that Thylacoleo was " not 

 much more carnivorous than the Phalangers of the present time."! 



To his various opponents Owen 4; replied in a lengthy paper in 

 the Philosophical Transactions for 1871. Flower and Falconer 

 both found their conclusions largely on the fact that a diprotodont 

 dentition is among living Marsupials and in most Eutheria met 

 with only in herbivorous forms; Owen's position on the other hand 

 is mainly founded on Cuvier's principle that the molar teeth 

 always indicate whether an animal has been herbivorous or car- 

 nivorous, and he holds that in the teeth of Thylacoleo we have 

 " no molar machinery for the mastication of vegetable food, but 

 a maximised modification of the teeth for the division of fleshy 

 fibre, and so much of the tubercular form added for the final 

 crush or squeeze of gristle or other tough part escaping the shears, 

 as exists in the most carnivorous of placental mammals. "§ With 

 the view that Thylacoleo was a pure carnivore, he holds that all 

 the other parts of the dental set are in complete harmony — 

 the sharp incisors being here constructed " to pierce, retain, and 

 kill," and thus performing the functions of the more usual 

 canines. That a diprotodont dentition can be modified to suit 

 the requirements of a carnivorous animal Owen brings forward 

 quite a series of forms to show. The low position of the condyle 

 and its shape are, he holds, additional evidences in favour 

 of carnivority. Having discussed the various arguments in 

 favour of Thylacoleo being a herbivore, he proceeds to deal 

 Avith the afiinities of the form and concludes that it is moderateh' 



* "On the Dentition of Thylacoleo caimifex." Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 18(56, (3), xviii. p. 148. 



t Loc. cit. p. 149. 



X On the Fossil Mammals of Australia. Part iv. Dentition and Mandible 

 of Thylacoleo carni/ex, with remarks on the arguments for its Herbivority. 

 Phil. Trans. Vol. 161, 1871, p. 213. 



§ Loc. cif. p. 228. 



