HISTORY OF THE MARSUPIALIA 



633 



posterior half of the back and base of the tail. Apparently the 

 creature is in process of losing its stripes and acquiring the sohd 

 body-colour. The dental formula is : i|, c\, 79 1, ??? f, X 2 = 46 ; 

 the incisors are small, the canines large fangs, and the premolars 

 simple; the upper molars are tritubercular, with large inner 

 cusp and postero-external cutting ridge, and the lower molars 

 are trenchant, with low heel. The whole dentition is remark- 

 ably like that of many Eocene fcreodonts, such as fSinopa and 



Fig. 296. — Thylaeiuc, m- " Tasmainaii Wolf " {'rh!jl<"-uiiu.-< njnorcphnlns}. — 

 By permission of W. S. Berridge, London. 



■\Trite7nn0d0n (see p. 566). The milk-premolar is small and 

 functionless and is shed very early. The skull is very wolf- 

 like in appearance, but thoroughly marsupial in structure, 

 and has the large palatal vacuities common in the order. The 

 marsupial bones do not ossify and are evidently on the point 

 of disappearance. There are five digits in the manus, four in 

 the pes, the hallux being completely suppressed. In habits, 

 the Thylacine is carnivorous and so destructive to sheep that 

 the farmers have nearly exterminated it. 



