THE TASMANIAN THYLACINE 217 



since the bones of an allied species have been found 

 in the superficial deposits of Australia/ 



The thylacine { Thy lacimis cy^iocephalus) — tiger 

 wolf, zebra wolf, and zebra opossum of the colonists 

 — Tasmanian wolf of some writers-^stands about 

 eighteen and half inches high at the shoulder and 

 tapes about forty-five inches from the tip of the 

 muzzle to the root of the twenty-inch tail. The 

 head is squarish, relatively large, and strangely 

 dog-like ; but the muzzle, as seen from the front' 

 is markedly attenuated between the widened 

 cheeks.^ The nostrils, in life, are separated by a 

 cleft, sharply defined as if cut with a knife. The 

 body is somewhat slender, and supported on 

 rather stoutish limbs ; the thylacine, like the 

 hyaena dog, has no hallux or "great" toe. The tail 

 is very curious, being naked and compressed laterally, 

 thus reminding one of the caudal appendage outlined 

 by Cuvier in his restoration of the fossil Anoplothe- 

 riuni comm2tne ; indeed, M. Geoffroy long ago 

 suoro-ested from the form of the tail that the 

 thylacine might be aquatic ! The ground colour is 

 greyish brown tinged with olive (deeper over the 



1 Portion of the left ramus of the lower jaw, and also a molar tooth 

 of the Australian, thylacine {Thylacinus fijieheus) were presented many 

 years ago to the Royal College of Surgeons' Museum, by Count Strzelecki. 

 They were found in the Pleistocene deposits of Wellington Valley, and 

 are mentioned in Sir Richard Owen's account of the fossil mammals in 

 the museum, 



2 Since the above was written the author liiids that the Dutch 

 naturalist Temniinck had similarly remarked : " Museau tr6s comprime 

 a chanfrein aniud." 



