174 Dr. Gerard Krefft on a Cuvierian 



given it as his opinion that the first tubercular tooth behind 

 the lower incisor of a phalanger must be considered to repre- 

 sent the canine. As late as the year 1868 he teaches this ; and 

 he gives examples of such teeth in the ' Anatomy of Verte- 

 brates/ vol. iii. p. 289, figs. 228 and 229 : the last represents 

 the dentition of Phalangista Cookii (our " red ringtail opos- 

 sum"). In this figure the large incisor is the first tooth of 

 the series, then follow three small tubercular teeth, the first of 

 which is distinctly marked " canine." 



It has been proved that all phalangers proper have three 

 premolars above and below at some time or other of their 

 existence ; but in the face of this evidence laid down by Pro- 

 fessor Owen, as well as by Flower and others, the great ana- 

 tomist now turns these three little teeth into " premolars," and 

 alters the premolar formula of Phalangista to foiir below, 

 whilst he retains only three above. (See ' A Cuvierian Prin- 

 ciple &c.' p. 254, fig. 19, right mandible of Phalangista 

 Cookii with fom* premolars, and without a canine.) 



I make no comments on this strange alteration to suit a 

 certain purpose, which, if accepted by anatomists, will confuse 

 every thing Professor Owen has taught about the dentition of 

 the genus Phalangista. The first tooth after the incisor in the 

 mandible of a jjhalanger is most undoubtedly a canine, and it 

 will remain a canine as long as there is truth in comparative 

 anatomy. Even if every other tooth is marked with a "p " 

 (premolar) j it will never be believed by those who understand 

 these things, and the teeth will be called, as hitherto, by their 

 right names given by Professor Owen himself. If we examine 

 the depressions, two or three in number, on the front inner side 

 of the large premolar of Thylacoleo^ it will be observed at once 

 that they probably contained two or three little teeth, like 

 other phalangers, the first of which would of course represent 

 the lower canine. 



Thus far the herbivorous principle is prevalent ; but with 

 the true molars reduced to a pair below, one of which is tuber- 

 cular, and to a single transverse tooth above, the somewhat 

 carnivorous character of the animal becomes manifest. The 

 carnivority is still further expressed in the position of the line 

 of mandibular teeth, which exactly fronts the ascending ramus ; 

 but there, again, the carnivorous proof ends. 



From the shape of the condyle, placed moderately high, and 

 from the broad, scoop-like inward process of the lower jaw, we 

 conclude the Thylacoleo to have been a mixed-feeding or her- 

 bivorous animal. 



On page 236 of the treatise ' A. Cuvierian Principle in 

 Palseontology,' we read in plain words, " The rotatory grinding- 



