BY R. BROOM. 69 



It is remarkable that the structure of the molars in Thylacoleo 

 has been so lightly passed over by those supporting the herbivorous 

 hypothesis. Flower and Lydekker evidently consider that the 

 molars have been reduced through their functions being taken up . 

 by the large premolars. But could the large premolars take up 

 the molar function — could they grind ^ Even those who fa\ our 

 the idea of Thylacoleo being a vegetable feeder admit that the 

 premolars were cutting teeth, and the difficulty of imagining a 

 herbivorous animal without grinders is got over by supposing 

 that its food was of a soft or succulent nature. Flower thinks 

 the food "may have been some kind of root or bulb; it may 

 have been fruit," he saj^s, or " it may have been flesh "'; while 

 T.ydekker, though he believes the main diet to have been of a 

 \-egetable nature, thinks it may have included "the smaller 

 mammals, birds and eggs." Though so many alternative diets 

 have been suggested as possible. Flower presumes with Lydekker 

 that Thylacoleo was a vegetable feeder, and I take it that neither 

 believes Thylacoleo to have been a regular omnivorous animal 

 feeding regularly on succulent roots, fruits, mammals, birds and 

 ea-gs, but rather that succulent vegetables and fruit formed the 

 staple diet and that animal food was partaken of only exception- 

 ally. 



For Thylacoleo to have lived on succulent roots and bulbs, the 

 vegetation of the portion of Australia which it inhabited must 

 have been very different in character from that now prevailing; 

 and this is what Flower assumes. Though, however, this is 

 possible, it must be admitted that as yet there is no palseonto- 

 logical evidence of any such radical change in the flora as will 

 parallel that in the fauna. 



But there are insuperable difficulties in the way of considering 

 Thylacoleo a Ijulb- or fruit-eater. With its remarkable dentition 

 the animal would be unable to do more than slice its fruits and 

 vegetables even if it could have procured both in abundance, 

 which is so exceedingly improbable. Now, it can hardly be 

 denied that no mammal would be able to digest vegetables, bulbs 



