Arrangement of the Fossil Kangaroos. 205 



Thylacoleo was the last representative of this early proijenitor 

 of our marsupiuls ; and in this form only occur carnivorous 

 grinders with an otherwise herbivorous dentition. There 

 must have been numerous intermediate forms totally lost, or 

 not yet discovered, which would clear up our dou))ts upon the 

 subject ; so much is certain, however, that with the Thylacoleo 

 disappeared tlie nearest relation of the most ancient form of 

 marsupial life in this country. 



Su])posing, then, this hypothesis to be con-ect, we can well 

 account for the development of the rest of the pouched tribe, 

 and simply flivide them into two groups, — No. 1 embracing 

 all the members with a pair of small conjointed inner toes — 

 that is, kangaroos, rat-kangaroos, wombats, phalangers (opos- 

 sums, flying squirrels, native bears, &c.), and bandicoots; 

 whilst No. 2, on the other hand, comprises the true flesh-eaters, 

 without the conjoined inner pair of toes, such as the Tasmanian 

 tiger and devil, the dasyures or native cats, and the small fry 

 of pouched mice. 



All our marsupials can be received into one or the other of 

 these groups ; so that, after all, the classification of them is 

 easy enough. It may be argued that the dentition varies 

 much ; but Avhen we study embryonic life and the development 

 of the teeth, we soon find the missing links ; and if a person 

 will only take the trouble to look for himself l^efore implicitly 

 believing what is published, he will soon change his opinion. 

 Let us take a wombat, an opossum, and a bandicoot for a com- 

 parison : and certainly there are not three animals in the group 

 more difFei-ent from each other than these ; but all three possess 

 the conjoined toes to the hind feet. When the teeth of a very 

 young wombat are examined, it becomes also clear that they 

 are furnished with crowns or working-surfaces which very 

 much resemble those of our common phalanger or opossum ; 

 and when we take the trouble to disengage the gn-inders of 

 certain bandicoots, such as the Peragalea or rabbit-rat, we 

 behold a " small edition " of a true wombat's grinders. Of 

 course it is necessary to find out such things by actual ex- 

 amination ; and it must be admitted that few persons have the 

 opportunity, or, if so, make use of it. 



The native bear is the diminutive representative of the 

 gigantic extinct Phalangers, the Diprotodons, and Nototheres ; 

 and he is also the most ancient living form of marsupial life, 

 probably connected by innumerable unknown species with the 

 lower section to which the platypus belongs. At any rate, 

 there is no other animal known to me which, at an early 

 period of its existence, has grinders resembling the horny 

 "apologies for teeth" wherewith our "duckbill" is supplied 



