430 



PALEONTOLOGY. 



tions have established the true marsupial character and 

 the near affinities of the genus to the kangaroo (Macropus), 

 but with an osculant relationship with the herbivorous 

 wombat. The entire skull of the Diprotoclon Australis (fig. 

 171) has lately been acquired by the British Museum, shew- 

 ing in situ the tooth (i) on which the genus was founded. 

 This skull measures 3 feet in length; that of a man is 

 inserted in the cut to exemplify the huge dimensions of the 



Fig. 171. 

 Skull, gigantic Pachy dermoid Kangaroo {Dijprotodon Australis) Pleistocene, 



Australia. 



primeval kangaroo. Like the contemporary gigantic sloth in 

 South America, the Diprotodon of Australia, while retaining 

 the dental formula of its living homologue, shews great and 

 remarkable modifications of its limbs. The hind pair were 

 much shortened and strengthened, compared with those of the 

 kangaroo ; the fore pair were lengthened as well as strength- 

 ened ; yet, as in the case of the Megatherium, the ulna and 

 radius were maintained free, and so articulated as to give the 

 fore paw the rotatory actions. These in Diprotodon, would be 

 needed, as in the herbivorous kangaroo, by the economy of 



