260 LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 
although of proportionately much larger dimensions, and biting 
against a similar tooth in the upper jaw. The molar teeth 
(one pair in the upper, and two in the lower jaw) which 
suceeed these large premolars posteriorly are small, rounded, 
and of no functional importance. 
The remarkably trenchant form of the last premolar tooth 
in this strange extinct representative of the Phalangers not un- 
naturally led to the conclusion that the creature was a carnivore 
preying upon the large herbivorous Marsupials which were its 
contemporaries ; and it accordingly received the specific name 
which it still bears. Fuller acquaintance with its anatomy re- 
vealed, however, its intimate kinship with the Phalangers ; and 
when this was fully realised, it was argued that Zhylacoleo must 
be purely a vegetable eater. Many of the Cuscuses are, how- 
ever, partly carvivorous in their habits; and in our own 
opinion it seems probable that in this respect their gigantic 
extinct cousin resembled them toa certain extent. Not that 
we mean to assert that Z7/ylacoleo was a creature which preyed 
on large Mammals, since to attack and overcome such its teeth 
are clearly not suited; but we do think that it may have pro- 
bably killed and devoured the smaller Mammals, as well as 
such birds as it was able to eatch. To our thinking, the huge 
last premolar tooth does not appear one well adapted for an 
exclusively vegetable diet, unless indeed it were employed to 
slice up large bulbous roots after the manner of a turnip-cutting 
machine. Even, however, if roots cf this nature existed in 
Australia during the time that ZzyZacoleo flourished, we fail to 
see how the creature could have introduced them whole into 
its mouth and sliced them up in this manner. That there 
must have been some special use for such extraordinary teeth 
is pretty clear, as otherwise they would never have been likely 
to have been evolved ; but it still remains for the investigator 
of the history of the animals of a past epoch to declare what 
