﻿1^2 Allen's naturalist^s library. 



Thyhiiiniis breviceps^ Krefft, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol 

 ii., p. 296 (1868). 



{Plate XXIV.) 



Characters. — Fur short, close, and crisp. General colour 

 pale, finely grizzled, greyish-brown, with a faint yellowish or 

 tawny tinge ; under-parts somewhat paler ; edges and bases of 

 the ears, as well as a patch round each eye, nearly white ; 

 hinder part of back marked with some sixteen blackish-brown 

 transverse bands, descending in the region of the rump nearly 

 to the knee. Soles of hind feet naked and coarsely granulated, 

 without distinct pads. Tail with indistinct crests of hair on 

 its upper and lower surfaces, with its tip blackish. Length of 

 head and body about 44 inches; of tail 21 inches. 



It may be mentioned as a somew^hat remarkable fact that 

 traces of a rudimental pouch are found in the male Thylacine, 

 and it should be added that such a rudimental pouch, which 

 may be either permanent or transitory, has been detected in 

 the males of several other Marsupials, most of which belong 

 to the Polyprotodont division of the order. 



Distribution. — Tasmania. 



Habits. — Known among the colonists by the names of Native 

 Wolf, Tiger, or Hyaena, the Thylacine was at one time an abun- 

 dant animal in its native island. The damage which it inflicts 

 on the flocks of the settlers has, however, given rise to a 

 relentless war of extermination, which has resulted in the al- 

 most complete extinction of this, the largest of the Australasian 

 Carnivores, in the more settled portions of the country. 



So like in general appearance to a Wolf is this animal, that 

 the name of Tasmanian Wolf might well receive general adop- 

 tion, were it not for the circumstances that the application of 

 the name of a placental Mammal to a Marsupial is best, when 

 possible, avoided. And on this ground alone we preter to 



