A Cuvierian principle in palaeontology tested by evidences of an extinct leonine mammal (Thylacoleo carnifex) / by Professor Owen.
- Owen, Richard, Sir, 1804-1892.
- Date:
- 1871
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A Cuvierian principle in palaeontology tested by evidences of an extinct leonine mammal (Thylacoleo carnifex) / by Professor Owen. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![To my statement, “ that there is a socket close to the symphysis of the lower jaw of Thylacoleo, which indicates that the canine may have terminated the dental series there, and afforded an additional feature of resemblance to the Flagimilax * * ^ Dr. Falconer remarks :—“ In all this, it will be seen, the argument is within the domain of conjecture; the tooth oscillates between canine and incisor; and not merely so, but the principles which are followed as guides in this walk of investigation are set aside, to give place to the illusory indications of mutilated external form If palaeontological investigations were conducted in this manner there would be no limit to conjecture; the landmarks we profess to follow would be disregarded, and disorder would face us everywhere. But, happily, science furnishes unerring principles, which provide the corrective. I need hardly add that the argument drawn from Thylacoleo has, in my view, no bearing on the incisors of Plagiaulax, and gives no support to the carnivorous inference ”f. This rebuke, being doubtless kindly meant and penned in the interests of palaeontology, I have hitherto borne in silence, hoping that less fragmentary fossils of Thylacoleo would ultimately reach me; and sustained, I must own, by a confident belief that they would confirm the inferences drawn from the position of the alveolus, suggesting the alleged feature of resemblance of Thylacoleo to Plagiaulax. Nevertheless, the portion of mandible figured in Plates xi. & xiii. of the Phil. Trans, for 1859 being represented by a plaster cast, and the figures 5 & 6 in Plate iv. of the Phil. Trans, for 1866 being from photographs, I could not feel surprised that arguments in favour of the herbivorous nature and affinities of both Thylacoleo and Plagiaulax should have met with acceptance and support from some Anatomists, Naturalists, and Palaeontologists J. I have again been favoured, through the kind offices of Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart., with a collection of fossils obtained by his friend, Mr. St. Jean, of Gowrie, from the freshwater deposits of that locality, in Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia, which collection included the alveolar portion and certain teeth of the right upper jaw (Plate XI. figs. 1-5), and the major part of the left ramus of the lower jaw with certain teeth (Plate XII. figs. 1-5) of a full-grown Thylacoleo carnifex. The teeth in the upper jaw are:—the anterior incisor with the terminal half of the crown broken away [i i), the carnassial {p 4), and three antecedent small and simple obtusely conical teeth [p 1,2,3). and Notes,’ by the late Hugh Falconer, F.E.S. &c., 8vo, 1868, vol. ii. p. 437. [In future references I shall use the numbers X. and XI. to signify the above volumes.] * Owen’s ‘ Palaeontology,’ 8vo, 2nd ed. (1861) p. 432. t X. p. 354; XI. p. 438. 7 E. g. Mr. Boyd Dawkins, F.E.S., in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. xx. 1864, p. 412 ; Mr. Gerard Krefft, “ On the Dentition of Thylacoleo carnifex, Owen,” Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 3rd series, vol. xviii. 1866, p. 148; Professor W. H. Flower, F.E.S., “ On the Affinities and probable Habits of the extinct Australian Marsupial, Thylacoleo carnifex, Owen,” in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, March 1868, vol. xxiv. p. 307. [This volume and paper I shall refer to as No. XII.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2241440x_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
