264 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 
Nototherium inerme, Owen, op. cit., p. 316. 
Nototherium victoria, Owen, Phil. Trans., 1872, p. 6:. 
The genus lVo/otherium, in which it is difficult to recognise 
more than a single species, appears to form a connecting link 
between the preceding family and the Wombats, the skull, 
limb-bones, and vertebrz being nearest to those of the latter, 
the lower jaw presenting characters intermediate between the 
two, while the molar teeth are similar to those of the former. 
Of somewhat smaller size than the Dzfrotodon, the Loto- 
therium may be distinguished at a glance by its extremely short 
and wide skull, in which the region of the nose is curiously 
upturned. In number, the teeth agree with those of the 
Diprotodon, but the upper incisors are of moderate size, not 
chisel-shaped, and the second and third pairs are separated in the 
middle line. Although the upper molars have no longitudinal 
bridge connecting the two transverse ridges, an incomplete one 
is developed in those of the lower jaw, and when un-worn the 
ridges of these teeth sometimes tend to a crescent form. The 
lower jaw has its inferior border highly convex, and its two 
branches welded together by bone at their junction in front. 
The humerus, or upper arm-bone, tentatively assigned to this 
animal is very like that of the Wombats; but there is a possi- 
bility that it may belong to a gigantic extinct representative of 
the latter. Although very imperfectly known, the feet also 
seem to approximate in structure to those of the latter group. 
If the humerus assigned to it be rightly referred, it would 
appear that, in spite of its gigantic dimensions, the JVofotherium 
was an animal of burrowing, or at all events digging, habits. 
The structure of its molar teeth is such as might easily be 
modified. into the more specialised type characteristic of the 
Wombats, so that it is conceivable that both the latter and the 
animal under consideration may have been evolved from a 
common ancestor. 
