These forms have been included in an order, SPARASSODONTA. But it is not by any means certain whether these forms are rightly placed in the neighbourhood of the carnivorous Marsupials; it is possible that they ought to be relegated to the Creodonta or to their allies. Their structure is in fact somewhat intermediate between those two groups. The teeth seem to be carnivorous and Marsupial-like in form; but as already mentioned, in connexion with the general structure of teeth, more than a single premolar is replaced. These animals in fact, in so far as regards their teeth, are midway between the Marsupials and the typical Eutheria. The angle of the lower jaw is inflected, but the palate is not marked by deficient ossification. At least this is not the case with all the members of the group. Whether the small _Microbiotherium_, which is made the type of a family, is rightly referred here is not certain. This animal had palatine vacuities as well as an inflected angle to the lower jaw. * * * * * {161} CHAPTER VIII EDENTATA--GANODONTA ORDER II. EDENTATA Terrestrial, partly subterranean, or arboreal creatures of quite small to gigantic size (some extinct genera), with frequently a covering of scales or bony scutes. Limbs clawed. Teeth either totally absent or, if present, imperfect in structure, being without enamel, and not forming a complete series; incisors and canines being as a rule absent. Teats axillary, pectoral, or inguinal.[99] Retia mirabilia very common in the extremities. To this group the name of Bruta was given by Linnaeus, but then it included not only the families which we now place in the modern order Edentata, but also the Elephant and the genus _Trichechus_. Mr. Thomas has proposed to change the name into Paratheria, which name is suggestive of what he and some others think concerning the systematic position of the group, _i.e._ that it is not to be placed in the Eutherian group of mammals at all, but represents a separate twig which has arisen with the Eutheria from a low mammalian stock. This view can hardly be accepted if the Ganodonta--which will be treated of presently--be really ancestral Edentates, for they are not in any way a Prototherian mammalian group, so far as their remains enable us to judge. The Edentata contain the Sloths, Ant-bears, Armadillos, _Manis_ and _Orycteropus_, among living forms. The great Ground-Sloths, _Megatherium_, etc., and Armadillos, _Glyptodon_, etc., represent the extinct forms.