Thylacoleo.

This animal was first described by Professor Owen; it is evidently a Phalanger and comes close to the "Flying Squirrel" (Belideus flaviventer). The great premolar of Thylacoleo is not found in Belideus, and the grinders differ much in the two species, but the incisors above and below are of the same shape, and skull and jaw, when compared with the much larger Thylacoleo, appear to be formed on a similar model. That it was erroneous to consider the Thylacoleo a formidable carnivore, and a match for the ponderous Diprotodons, is plainly discernible from the remains (nearly perfect jaws) in our collections; many of the "trenchant" teeth are worn quite flat, the incisors are weak, and the upper ones often rounded off to conical prints, unfit to hold or tear tough substances such as flesh.

Besides these remains, others indicating a smaller allied species have come to hand.