144 ATJSTRALIAIS' NATURAL HISTOET. 



individuals!, and as the rule holds good as far as recent marsupials 

 are concerned, it may be accepted for them at all events. 



The slightly carnivorous bandicoots, and the small phalangers 

 known as flying- squirrels and flying-mice, show a sharp angle like 

 all true flesh-'eaters ; and though a bandicoot may live on herbs 

 and roots, he will also kill mice and prove his carnivority when- 

 ever an opportunity is offered. The rule laid down by some of 

 the earlier comparative anatomists, that the articulating condyle 

 is below the dental line of the 'ramus in carnivores does not hold 

 good in all cases, and, in a very exceptional form, the Dactylopsila, 

 which is a fruit-eating phalanger, the condyle is as low as in our 

 greatest carnivores. The dental series in a line with the ascend- 

 ing ramus has been pointed out by me as a carnivorous peculiarity ; 

 and this position of the teeth in the Thylacoleo, combined with 

 upper canines and molars of a flesh-eater, have induced me to 

 admit that the Thylacoleo was as carnivorous as other phalangers, 

 but certainly not more so, because the broad expanse of the 

 inflected angle — a proof of non-carnivority — neutralizes the other 

 characteristics. The condyle of the most savage of our flesh- 

 eaters — the Tasmanian devil — has a broad upper surface, and not 

 the spindle or roller shape of the true placental beasts of prey. 



The last important evidence of marsupiality in the herbivores 

 is the wide foramen at the base of the ascending ramus. This 

 opening becomes smaller in many of the insectivorous phalangers, 

 though it is very much smaller, sometimes absent, in the native 

 bsar and wombat. 



All marsupials have arm-bones with a rotating motion, except* 

 the pig-footed bandicoots. All except the Thylacine have a pair 

 of marsupial bones attached to the lower portion of the pelvis, 

 and all have the pelvic bones very narrow. All except the ban- 

 dicoots have five well-developed nailed toes to the fore-foot ; and 

 the whole tribe except the true carnivores has the peculiar 

 arrangement of the hind toes, that is, two conjoined small digits 

 on the inner side of the foot. 



The humerus, through often modified, cannot easily be mis- 

 taken in the more common members of the tribe. There is always 

 a strong deltoid ridge, and the supra-condylar foramen is almost 

 always present, except in some small Dasyures, and the gigantic 

 fossil herbivorous species, the Diprotodon, for example. That 

 the hand or manus in all marsupials is provided with five digits, 

 except in the Chseropus, or pig-footed bandicoot, has been men- 

 tioned already. 



The scapula appears to differ in shape considerably at first 

 sight, but closer examination reveals a certain uniformity of 

 structure. I can do no more at present than draw attention to 

 the corresponding form of this bone in the wombats, the 

 thvlacine. and the bandicoots. 



