vi CARNIVOROUS MARSUPIALS 149 
It may also be comparable to the great premolar of such Multi- 
tuberculata as Ptilodus and Plagiaulaa. It is, moreover, marked 
with vertical grooves. 
An interesting form, which is unfortunately but httle known, 
is the Austrahan and Pleistocene genus 7’ric/is, with one species, 
T. oscillans. In having a minute canine tooth in the lower jaw 
it agrees with some Phalangeridae, and being otherwise closely 
allied to Hypsiprymnodon, it unites the Macropodidae with the 
Phalangeridae. 
Susp-OrpER 2. POLYPROTODONTIA. 
In this mainly carnivorous or insectivorous division of the 
Marsupials the incisors are four or five on each side of the upper 
\ 
3 i 
20 =i4i\\ 
SL 
\ 
\ LN, ZF 
Fie. 76.—Front view of the skull of Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus ursinus), showing 
Polyprotodont and carnivorous dentition. (After Flower.) 
Jaw, and one or two fewer in the lower jaw. Figs. 76 and 77 
illustrate the Polyprotodont and Diprotodont dentitions. The 
canines are those of flesh-eaters and so are the molars, being as a 
rule sharply cuspidate. As a rule, which has an exception in the 
Peramelidae, there is no syndactylism of toes in the hind-foot. 
This sub-order is at the present day Australian and American in 
its range. 
Fam. 1. Dasyuridae.—This family consists of Marsupials 
which are generally pentadactylous, but with occasionally the 
hallux missing The tail is long but not prehensile. The pouch 
is present or absent. The teeth vary in the different genera, but 
