THE DASYURES. P57 
hind limbs was clean gone, and not even the trace of a stump 
remained visible.” 
The enormous crushing power of the teeth of this animal 
has already been alluded to, and will be fully borne out by an 
inspection of the skull. The cheek-teeth, as shown in the 
figure on page 155, are especially characterised by their stout- 
ness and close crowding together, the latter feature being due 
to the shortness of the muzzle. The middle pair of upper 
incisor teeth are larger than those next them, while the tusks or 
canine teeth are very large and powerful. 
The skeletons of both the Thylacine and the Tasmanian 
Devil may be distinguished from those of all the other mem- 
bers of the family by the presence of a perforation on the inner 
side of the lower end of the humerus, or upper bone of the 
fore limb. Ina skeleton of the present species in the Museum 
of the Royal College of Surgeons it is, however, stated that 
there is a perforation in one humerus and not in the other. The 
absence of the same perforation in the Dasyures is a very un- 
usual feature among Marsupials, nearly all of which retain in- 
dications of their affinity with certain extinct reptiles by its 
presence. 
THE DASYURES. GENUS DASYURUS. 
Dasyurus, Geoffroy, Bull. Soc. Philom., vol. i., p. 106 (1796). 
_ General form usually slender and Weasel- or Civet-like, but 
occasionally stouter. Ears long and narrow; nose naked, with 
a deep groove running down to the upper lip; tail long, uni- 
formly and thickly haired throughout; feet plantigrade, with 
sharp, curved claws; the first toe, or hallux, of the hind 
foot very small or wanting; soles of the feet granulated, and 
nearly or wholly naked. Body spotted. Pouch opening ver- 
tically downwards ; six or eight teats. ‘Two pairs of premolar 
