Abstract
AT last, it seems, the true position of Plagiaulax, of the Dorsetshire Purbeck, described by Hugh Falconer in 1857, has been more or less definitely determined, and this by means of its early Tertiary American relative Ptilodus, of which remains, in a much more satisfactory condition than any hitherto known, have recently been discovered in Montana. These are described by Mr. J. W. Gidley in No. 1689 (vol. xxxvi., pp. 611–26) of the U.S. National Museum Proceedings under the name of P. gracilis. Of late years Plagiaulax and Ptilodus, together with a number of more or less nearly allied types, collectively forming the Multituberculata or Allotheria, have been tentatively associated with the Metatheria on account of a presumed resemblance of their cheek-teeth to those of the platypus. A study of the skull, pelvis, and limb-bones of the American genus has, however, convinced Mr. Gidley that this is wrong, and that the Plagiaulacidæ (together with the other Multituberculata) are really marsupials. The unequal development of the fore and hind limbs, the characters of the incisors, the form of the palate, and the position of the cheek-teeth indicate, in his opinion, a close, although not ancestral, relationship with the diprotodont marsupials.
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Primitive Diprotodonts . Nature 81, 204 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/081204a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/081204a0