DASYURES 



I ; I 



is getting rarer on account of its sheep -killing propensities, 

 and the consequent war of extermination declared upon it by the 

 colonists. It will, however, feed upon other animals; and it is 

 related that the first specimen ever captured had in its stomach 

 the remains of an Echidna ! Mr. Thomas thinks that the persist- 

 ence of this and of some of the other larger carnivorous Marsu- 

 pials in Tasmania, after their extinction in Australia is not uncon- 

 nected with the advent of the Dingo. ]>ut it is stated that the 

 Thylacine is quite capable of keeping e^en a pack of dogs at l)ay. 

 The genus Sarcophilus has been frecjuently confounded with 

 the next, but it is kept apart by Mr. Thomas, who follows 



Fig. 79.-- -Tasmanian Devil. Sarcophilus ursinvs. x y'jj- 



Cuvier in this. An alternative generic name is Diabolus, 

 which, like the first name, refers to the habits and character 

 of the single species which this genus contains. The genus is 

 more like Thylacinus than is Dasyurus. The hallux is wanting, 

 and the teeth, though fewer in number (42), resemble those of 

 the Thylacine more closely than do those of the Dasyure. The 

 species is called aS'. ursinns, the popular name being Tasmanian 

 Devil. It is black with a variable number of white patches on 

 the body. It is of about the size of a Badger, and is, like the 

 Thylacine, a nocturnal animal. The Tasmanian Devil is said to 

 be one of the most ferocious of animals, and to express its 

 ferocity by a " yelling growl." 



The next genus of this family, Dasyurus, comprises five 

 species, which range over the whole of the Papuan and Australian 

 sub-regions. The Q-eneral form is Viverrine, and the hallux is 

 sometimes present though small. The dental formula is as in the 



