16 DASYURUS. 
Dimensions.—Head and body about sixteen inches ; tail about 
twelve inches. 
Habitat.—All Australia except the extreme North, and the 
coastal districts of the South-East. 
References.—Thomas, B.M. Catal. p. 268, pl. xxiii. figs. 1 (ear), 
2 (sole); Gould, Mamm. Austr. i. pl. li. 
3. DASYURUS VIVERRINUS, Shaw, sp. (1800). 
Common Native Cat. 
1G I. 
Lower jaw of Dasyurus viverrinus, showing typical polyprotodont den- 
tition (natural size). 
Size medium; form slender. Fur thick and soft. General 
color above and below either pale gray or black, spotted with 
white. Ears large. Hallua absent. Soles granulated, without 
distinct pads. Tail bushy, its proximal three-fourths like the 
back, but unspotted, its tip white. Mamme six. 
Dimensions.—Head and body about eighteen inches ; tail about 
twelve inches. 
Habitat.—Eastern watershed of New South Wales ; Victoria ; 
South Australia ; Tasmania. 
References.—Thomas, B. M. Catal. p. 265; Gould, Mamm. 
Austr. i. pl. 1. 
Note.—This species, in both varieties, but mostly in the light- 
colored form, is as much, if not more, terrestrial than arboreal, 
living in dead logs, under rocks, or in holes in the cliffs, in which 
latter place they feed on dead fish, and probably crustaceans, 
mollusks, &c., and are thus frequently caught in baited fish-traps 
left bare by the tide or hauled up during bad weather. Fossil 
remains of this species have been discovered in the Wellington 
Caves, New South Wales, the Pleistocene Deposits of Gowrie, 
Queensland, and in Tasmania. 
