396 



PALAEONTOLOGY 



The pleistocene marsupial CamivOra presented the usual 

 relations of size and power to the Herbivora, whose undue in- 

 crease they had to check. Fig. 141 represents an almost entire 

 skull, with part of the lower jaw of an animal (Thylacoleo) 



=->"■< y if ->,*• < 



Fig. 141. 



Skull of a large extinct Marsupial Carnivore (Thi/lncoleo carnifex), 



Pleistocene, Australia. 



rivalling the lion in size, the marsupiality of which is demon- 

 strated by the position of the lacrymal foramen (/) in front of 

 the orbit ; by the palatal vacuity (o), by the loose tympanic 

 bone, the development of the tympanic bulla in the alisphenoid, 

 by the very small relative size of the brain, and other characters 

 detailed in the " Philosophical Transactions " * for 1859. The 

 carnassial tooth (?>) is 2 inches 3 lines in longitudinal extent, or 



* "On the Fossil Mammals of Australia. Pari T. Description of the 

 TlnjlaroUo carnifex." By Prof. Owen, etc. 



