2386 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY. 
which are of minute size, gave rise to a bitter conflict analo- 
gous to the one which, as we have seen, occurred at a later 
date in the case of the Marsupial Zhy/acoleo ; one party main- 
taining that these little creatures were carnivorous, while the 
other as persistently asserted their herbivorous nature. The 
evidence in favour of the latter view was mainly furnished from 
the similarity of the teeth of these extinct Mammals to those 
of the Rat-Kangaroos, and although this similarity is now 
regarded merely as an instance of parallel development, and 
not as indicative of genetic affinity, it is probable that the 
deductions drawn therefrom are true, and that these early 
British Mammals were as herbivorous as the antipodean group 
they so curiously simulate in the structure of their teeth. 
