LIFE OF FLOWER 117 



bears a certain superficial resemblance to the carnassial 

 tooth of the cats, its describer was led to the conclusion 

 that Thylacoleo was a marsupial carnivore, and " one of 

 the fellest and most destructive of predatory beasts." 

 Probably Owen's views at this time were, that the 

 creature had its nearest living relatives in the members 

 of the Australian family Dasyurida, such as the 

 Tasmanian devil (Sarcophllus ursinus), and that it bore a 

 relationship to the existing carnivorous marsupials some- 

 what similar to that presented by a lion to a dog. At 

 this time there was no evidence to show whether the 

 large teeth near the front of the jaw, the existence of 

 which was indicated in the original specimen merely by 

 its empty socket, was a canine or an incisor ; and though 

 Owen was inclined to regard it as the former, he ad- 

 mitted that it might be an incisor, in which event he 

 recognised that the affinities of the animal would be 

 more with the herbivorous, or diprotodont section of 

 the marsupials, and more especially the phalangers, or so- 

 called opossums of the colonists. This is clearly in- 

 dicated by the following sentence appended by Sir 

 Richard to his discription : " If, however, this be 

 really the foremost tooth of the jaw, it would be one of 

 a pair of terminal incisors according to the marsupial 

 type exhibited by the Macropodidez (kangaroos) and 

 Phalangistida (phalangers)." 



In 1866, after receiving additional specimens from 

 Australia, Owen was enabled to describe the greater 

 part of the skull and the entire dentition of Thylacoleo. 

 The large anterior teeth were clearly recognised to be 

 incisors, which, in Owen's opinion, "proved the 

 Thylacoleo to be the carnivorous modification of the 



