105 



incisors (fig. 20, d, p. 178) is {%ths of an inch ; the depth of the ramus is -^ths of an 

 inch. In an opossum {Didelpht/s murina, ib. c) the extent of the mandibular dentition 

 is ths of an inch. The application of these proportions to the question of the food and 

 habits of the small British oolitic paucidentate Marsupial and of the great Australian 

 pleistocene analogue will be carried out at the conclusion of my illustrations of that 

 strange extinct marsupial Carnivore originally designated by the name of ' Pouched 

 Lion ' ( Thi/lacoleo). 



"With these indications of the marsupial Mammals which formerly existed in lands now 

 contributing to the soil of Britain, I close the Prefatory Chapter and proceed to the 

 proper subject of the work, namely, the ' Fossil Mammals of Australia.' 



Order MARSUPIALIA. 

 Suborder POLYPROTODONTI A. 



Genus Sarcophilus. 



Species Sarcophilus (Dasyurus) ursinus, Harris. 1 



I have received portions of the cranium and of both upper and lower jaws, with teeth, 

 of this species from the ' Breccia Cavern,' Wellington Valley (Plate XIII. fig. 2 ; Plate 

 XV. fig. 2: Cut, fig. 20, p. 103, frds nat. size). Some are identical in size with the 

 corresponding parts of the existing species therewith compared : two fossils of the lower 

 jaw are rather larger ; but the teeth in them were of the same size as in the recent animal. 



At the present day the Ursine Dasyure exists in Tasmania. No living specimen has 

 yet been discovered in Australia. 



Species Sarcophilus (Dasyurus) laniarius, Ow. 



This larger species, first determined from remains brought by the discoverer of the 

 Wellington Valley and its caves, 2 is represented by several specimens exhumed in the 

 ' State Exploration ' of those caves ; 3 such fossils were more numerous than those of 

 the smaller Ursine species. From the examples of Sarcophilus laniarius are selected the 

 subjects of figs. 1-6, Plate V. Besides the difference in size, the following modifications 

 of structure are noticeable. The larger and deeper digital pit, a, fig. 1, on the inner or 



1 ' Trans, of the Linncan Society,' 4to, vol. ix. pi. xix. 7. 



' Major (afterwards Sir Thomas) Mitchell, ' Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' 

 8vo, 1:338, vol. ii. p. 3G3, pi. 31. figs. 3-5. 

 3 See p. 239. 



o 



