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XV. On the Affinities of Thylacoleo. 
By Professor Owen, C.B., F.R.S., &c., Superintendent of the Natural History 
Department, British Museum. 
Received January 25,—Read February 1, 1883. 
[Plates 39-41.] 
In a former Paper on Thylacoleo was summed up what I then inferred from the 
fossil remains of the species “ carnifex ” which had reached me at that date, but 
acquiescence in those conclusions seemed, in the opinion of some contemporary 
Palaeontologists, to require further evidence. I have, accordingly, omitted no oppor¬ 
tunity of obtaining such, and the fossils so acquired form the subject of the present 
communication. 
The locality which promised success in this quest was the limestone district of 
Wellington Valley, New South Wales, from one of the caves of which the first 
evidence of Thylacoleo had been obtained.! 
And, here, I have to express my deep obligations to the Legislature of New South 
Wales for the Grants liberally voted for the further exploration of the caves and 
brecciated fissures of that district, and my acknowledgments of the friendly support 
given to my representations by the Premier, Sir Henry Parkes. The direction and 
supervision of these explorations were confided to the accomplished and able Curator 
of the Australian Museum, Sydney, Ed. V. Ramsay, F.L.S., to whom I am indebted 
for prompt transmission of the subjects of the present Paper, included in the results 
of his mission. 
Dentition of the upper jaw of Thylacoleo carnifex.-—Of the first or laniariform 
incisor the base only of the crown was the subject of fig. 1, 2, 3, Plate 11, p. 217, 
of the Paper above cited (1871). A detached crown of what I then inferred to 
have formed part of the homologous tooth is the subject of fig. 7 and 8 of Plate 11 
(Paper, 1871). I have now the upper jaw with the entire dentition (Plate 39, fig. 1), 
* “ On the Fossil Mammals of Australia ” : Part XV., Phil. Trans., 1871, p. 213. 
t By the then Surveyor General of Australia, Colonel Sir Thomas Mitchell, C.B., discoverer of the 
fertile region which he named after his great Commander. See Appendix to his ‘ Three Expeditions 
into Eastern Australia,’ 8vo., vol. ii., 1838. 
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