CUVIER. 167 



structures (B), though the latter may be present without 

 the former. When, therefore, we find a lower jaw having 

 its angle t inflected/ we may, with our present knowledge, 

 assert that the animal to which that jaw belonged must 

 have possessed ' marsupial bones ' or ' marsupial cartilages ' 

 upon the brim of the pelvis. If, however, we were to 

 find a pelvis with marsupial bones, we should not be 

 justified in asserting that the owner of the same must 

 have possessed an inflected angle to the lower jaw. On 

 the contrary, we know that such an assertion would be 

 erroneous, since the ' marsupial bones ' are present in the 

 duck-mole and spiny ant-eater, in which the angle of the 

 jaw has its usual form. 



