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IX. Description of Teeth of a Large Extinct (Marsupial V) genus, Sceparnodon, Ramsay. 
By Professor Owen, C.B., F.R.S., &c. 
Received October 2,—Read October 15, 1883. 
[Plate 11.] 
The only known Mammals of Australia with rootless, ever-growing scalpriform 
incisors, in bodily size suitable for wielding those about to be described, are the 
Diprotodon, the Nototherium , and the Phascolonus, all of which have become extinct. 
But the incisors of the known species of the above genera differ in shape from each 
other and, in a still more marked degree, from those of Sceparnodon; * nor do any 
such teeth from other and smaller Mammals match with the present Fossils. 
My first cognizance of this form of tooth was derived from casts, which were 
kindly transmitted to me in October, 1881, by Edward P. Ramsay, Esq., Curator of 
the Museum of Natural History, Sydney, New South Wales. 
In the letter advising me of their transmission, Mr. Ramsay writes :— 
“ The flat teeth are those for which I proposed the name Sceparnodon, but which 
name need not be retained by you, as no description has been published of them. 
The smaller of the flat teeth was obtained in the central part of South Australia; I 
believe near Lake Eyre. I found it among a collection which I was asked to 
determine at the Melbourne Exhibition, and I took casts of it. Those numbered 
A 3292, A 3295 came from Gelgoine Station, New South Wales, and were found in a 
deep hole in the creek which was being cleaned out for water; they are quite black, 
glossy, and seem to be impregnated with iron. 
(Signed) “ Ed. P. Ramsay.” 
Comparison of these casts of teeth, more or less mutilated, led me to the conclusion 
my valued correspondent had arrived at, and to the retention of the generic name 
proposed for the extinct animal to which they had belonged. But I deferred 
their description in the hope of receiving actual and better preserved specimens, 
affording also the means of adding characters of microscopic structures to those of 
size and shape. 
A portion of such tooth (Plate 11 , figs. 1 , 2, 3) reached me this year, through 
the kindness of Mr. C. H. Harmann, of the Range Nursery, Toowoomba, Queens¬ 
land. It was found by him in the neighbouring bed of King’s Creek, from which 
* 'SfKe'Trxpvov, adze ; oBov%-, tooth. 
