572 Dentition of the Van Diemen's Land Tiger. [Oct. 



VI. — Note on Thylacinus Cynocephalus. Extracted from the Osteological 

 Section of the Catalogue of the Museum of the Asiatic Society. By 

 J. T. Pearson, Esq. 



Class — Mammalia. Order — Carnassiers. Fam. — Marsupiata. Gen. — 



Thylacynus. Sp. — Thylacynus Cynocephalus. 

 Van Diemen's Land Tiger. 



A Skull. 



This specimen (PI. XLVIII. fig. 49) was taken from the skin of 

 an animal called the Van Diemen's Land Tiger, presented to the 

 Society hy Dr. J. Henderson ; and described in the 3rd vol. of the 

 Gleanings in Science, by Dr. J. Grant. 



It was before described in the 9th vol. of the Transactions of the 

 Linnsean Society, by Harris : and it is mentioned in the Synopsis 

 of Mammalia of Griffith's Cuvier, under the name of Dasyurus 

 Cynocephalus. Mr. Brooks, as it is there stated, thought it tbe 

 type of a new genus, to be named Paracyon : and M. Temminck 

 has since formed it into one, under the name of Thylacynus. In all 

 these, however, the dentition is incorrectly given. In the Liunsean 

 Transactions, and in the Gleanings in Science, the cheek teeth are 

 represented as f f , and in the Synopsis of Griffith's, the dentary 

 system of Dasyurus is attached to it, viz. incisors | ; canines, \? ; 

 cheek teeth, §§. So far as relates to the incisors and canines, 

 Griffiths is probably correct ; for, although some of the incisors 

 are wanting in the present specimen, there are eight sockets above, 

 and six below ; the second on each side of the latter being situated 

 apparently within the row of the other four, as happens to the middle 

 incisors of Brooks' genus Lycaon. The dentition of Thylacynus is 

 therefore, incisors, | ; canines, \\ ; cheek teeth, f? == 46, and omitting 

 the incisors, some of which are wanting in the present specimen, 

 the teeth may be described as follows : 



Superior maxilla — canines strong, large, and curved backward, 

 with the points inclining rather inward ; separated from the incisors 

 by a deep, round fossa, or hollow, nearly half an inch in diameter, 

 to receive the point of the opposing canine of the lower jaw. Cheek 

 teeth gradually increasing in size to the last but one, which is the 

 longest. The three anterior ones are compressed, cuspid, with a 

 heel at the posterior side ; but little developed in the first, more so 

 in the second, and largely in the third, where it is formed into almost 

 a sharp tubercle. The fourth, fifth, and sixth cheek teeth irregularly 

 triangular, with the most obtuse angle forward and outward, and 

 the most acute, backward and outward. The fourth tooth has a 



