DASYUEUS. 15 



Note. As the only specimen known is mounted, it is impossible 

 to give any description of the palms and soles and their pads. In 

 the type specimen, according to Krefft, the fourth premolar is 

 absent, but seeing that it is present in all other members of the 

 subfamily (except P. thorbeckiana, in which it is a variable 

 character), this is doubtless an individual variation or peculiarity. 



Genus V. DASYURUS, E. Geo/roy (1796). 



Body spotted. Form stout or slender, graceful. Ears long 

 and narrow. Tail long, evenly- and thickly-haired throughout. 

 Feet plantigrade. Toes subequal, with sharp, curved claws ; 

 hallux very small or wanting. Soles granulated, nearly or wholly 

 naked. Pouch opening vertically downwards. Mamma? six or 

 eight. 



Dentition T 1 ' 2 - 3 ' 4 O l P 1 -- 3 - M 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 v 9 - 49 

 ion. i. La _ 3 , ^. v . j^Q, ivi. YJJ^ x J ~ * J> 



Habits. Terrestrial and arboreal ; carnivorous and insecti- 

 vorous. 



Note. The " Native Cats " of the Australian region take the 

 place of the Mustelidce of the palee- and ne-arctic regions, and are 

 equally destructive to poultry &c. 



1. DASYURUS HALLUCATUS, Gould (1842). 



North-Australian Native Oat. 



Size small ; form slender. Fur short and coarse. General 

 color above yellowish-brown spotted with white ; below pale gray 

 or yellow. Ears large, thinly clothed with fine yellow hairs. 

 Hallux present. Sole-pads smooth, well-defined, and transversely 

 striated. Tail long, rather short-haired, its base colored like the 

 body, but unspotted, the remainder black. Mammse eight. 



Dimensions. Head and body about eleven inches ; tail about 

 eight inches. 



Habitat. Tropical Australia. 



References. Thomas, B.M. Catal. p. 269 ; Gould, Mamm. 

 Austr. i. pi. lii. 



2. DASYURUS GEOPFROYI, Gould (1840). 



Black-tailed Native Cat. 



Size medium ; form slender. Fur thick and soft. General 

 color above olive-gray tinged with rufous and spotted with white ; 

 below white. Ears large, their backs brown with white margins. 

 Hallux present. Soles granulated, the pads marked by rounded 

 unstriated prominences. Tail long and rather bushy, the basal 

 half above and fourth below colored like the back, but unspotted, 

 the remainder black. Mammae six. 



