. An introduction to the study of mammals living and extinct. Mammals. EXTINCT FAMILIES 171 Extinct Fajviilies. Here may "be noticed two genera of extinct Marsupials, the remains of which have been found in the Pleistocene deposits of Australia, which agree with the Macropodklce and the Fhalangeridce in having -f- incisors, those of the lower jaw being very large and proclivous. As the whole of their structure, especially that of the hind feet, is not yet known, their precise affinities cannot be determined. Diprotodon,}—Dentition : i f, c -g-, j? ^, m f ; total 28. The first upper inciso
. An introduction to the study of mammals living and extinct. Mammals. EXTINCT FAMILIES 171 Extinct Fajviilies. Here may "be noticed two genera of extinct Marsupials, the remains of which have been found in the Pleistocene deposits of Australia, which agree with the Macropodklce and the Fhalangeridce in having -f- incisors, those of the lower jaw being very large and proclivous. As the whole of their structure, especially that of the hind feet, is not yet known, their precise affinities cannot be determined. Diprotodon,}—Dentition : i f, c -g-, j? ^, m f ; total 28. The first upper incisor very large and scalpriform (Fig. 56). True molars with prominent transverse ridges, as in Macropis, but wanting the longitudinal connecting bridge. Anterior and posterior limbs less disproportionate than in the Kangaroos. Humerus elongated, and differing from that of nearly all Marsupials in the absence of an. ^W KiG. 56.—Left lateral aspect of the skull of Diproiodon australls; from the Pleistocene of Australia. ^^ natural size, i. Incisors ; p, i^reraolar; m, molars. (After Owen.) entepicondylar foramen. The palate is fully ossified, and there is no pit or perforation in the masseteric fossa of the mandible. D. australis is the largest known Marsupial, being fully equal in bulk to a Rhinoceros. It may be regarded as the type of a family— Diprotodontklce—having affinity on the one hand with the Phalangers and on the other with the Kangaroos. Nototheriumr—Eepresented by a species of somewhat smaller size than the type of Diprotodon, mth a shorter skull, in which the zygomatic arches are very wide and the nasals curiously expanded at their extremities. The mandibular symphysis is ankylosed; ' Owen, in Mitchell's Eastern Australia, 2d ed. vol. ii. p. 362 (1838). 2 Owen, Cat. Mamm. and Aves, Mus. R. Coll. Surgeons, p. 314 (1845).. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and
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