INTRODUCTION. 63 



carnivorous and herbivorous species. Its dentition 

 in many respects presents an intermediate structure, 

 but perhaps approaches a little more nearly to the 

 carnivorous type ; its limbs, however, most nearly 

 resemble those of the Kangaroos, and these latter 

 animals are still more perfectly united to the Pera- 

 meles, by means of the Kangaroo-rats, or Hypsi- 

 prymni, which are provided with small canines. 

 These considerations induce me to place the Macro- 

 podidce after the Peramelidce^ but in so doing, I 

 cannot blind myself to the fact, that some of the 

 Phalangistidce, especially the Phalangista nana, also 

 evince a very close approach to the small Dasyuri 

 in the general structure of their teeth. I am not 

 surprised, therefore, that many naturalists place them 

 before the Macropodidce. In short, the Phalangers 

 and Kangaroos are, in my opinion, so closely allied, that 

 I think they might with propriety be regarded as the 

 arboreal and terrestrial divisions of the same larger 

 section, and, moreover, both these groups appear to 

 be, as above stated, closely allied to the Dasyuridce ; 

 hence I arrive at the conclusion, that the mutual 

 affinities of the species of the present group of animals 

 cannot be expressed by arranging them in linear series, 

 and a similar conclusion has been the result of my 

 endeavours to classify other groups. 



In the foregoing account of the various classifica- 

 tions of the Marsupial animals proposed by different 

 authors, it is evident that Mr. Swainson is in error, 

 in stating that " nearly all our leading naturalists 

 have acknowledged the artificial nature of the as- 



