. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Science; Science -- New York (State). MATTHEW, CLIMATE AND EVOLUTION 363 The fragmentary and little known mammals from the Mesozoic for- mations of Europe and North America were in large part marsupials, so far as we can judge from what is known of them. The most distinctive group among them were Multituberculata or Allotheria. Gidley^'* has recently (1909) brought forward strong evi- dence for the view that these animals were an archaic, early specialized branch of the marsupials paralleling the later diprotodonts.'^^ They occur (doubtfully) in th
. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Science; Science -- New York (State). MATTHEW, CLIMATE AND EVOLUTION 363 The fragmentary and little known mammals from the Mesozoic for- mations of Europe and North America were in large part marsupials, so far as we can judge from what is known of them. The most distinctive group among them were Multituberculata or Allotheria. Gidley^'* has recently (1909) brought forward strong evi- dence for the view that these animals were an archaic, early specialized branch of the marsupials paralleling the later diprotodonts.'^^ They occur (doubtfully) in the Ehsetic of Germany, certainly in the Upper Tertiary Opossums BorhifOiniiis Caenolestiais Opossums pro^ai/u since ThylcLCi'nus ustralca in :^v Pleistocene) W/,0, ipos sums Cdenolestcs \S^\\\ X)asi/ures;Diprofodo?-ttia. Fig. 31.—Distribntiou of Marsupials This is probably to be regarded as due to a very ancient dispersal from the north, fol- lowed by differentiation and dispersal during the Tertiary of specialized adaptations parallel in the Neotropical (Borhysenids and Csenolestids) and Australian regions (Thy- lacine-Dasyures and Diprotodonta). The Phalangers of the Austromalayan islands are regarded as marginal types from an Australian dispersal center. '*J. W. Gidley: Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. xxxvi, pp. 611-626. 1909. ''^ Recent discoveries, made since these lines were written, indicate that the relationship was not as close as had appeared. Dr. Broom has even maintained that these animals were nearer to monotremes than to marsupials, but in my judgment he has failed to adduce any really valid evidence for this view. But while they are in the Metatherian stage of evolution I do not think they can be included in the order Marsupialia on the data now available. See forthcoming article by Walter Granger in Bulletin Am. Mus. Nat. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - color
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