THE DASYURE. 489 
This animal is also known under the names of Ursine Dasyure and Ursine 
Opossum. 
OF the animals which have been congregated into the genus Dasyures, four or five 
species are now admitted to be clearly separated from each other. In colour the Dasyures 
are extremely variable, so much so indeed, that it is hardly possible to find two 
individuals of the same species that are marked in precisely the same manner. 
In the Common DasyurE the general colour of the fur is brown, of a very dark 
hue, sometimes deepening into positive black, diversified with many spots of white, 
scattered apparently at random over the whole of the body, and varying both in their 
position and dimensions in almost every individual. In some specimens the tail is 
washed with white spots similar to those 
of the body, but in many examples the 
tail is uniformly dark. In all the Dasyures 
this member is moderately long, but not 
prehensile, and is thickly covered with 
hair; a peculiarity which has caused 
zoologists to give the title of Dasyure, or 
hairy-tail, to these animals. 
They are all inhabitants of Australasia, 
the common Dasyure being found nume- 
rously enough in New Holland, Van Die- 
men’s Land, and some parts of Australia. 
The habits of all the Dasyures are so very 
similar that there is no need of describing 
them separately. They are all rather 
voracious animals, feeding upon the smaller 
quadrupeds, birds, insects, and other living 
beings which inhabit the same country. 
The Dasyure is said to follow the example 
of the two preceding animals, and to be 
fond of roaming along the sea-coasts by 
night in search of food. 
The Dasyures are all nocturnal animals, 
and very seldom make voluntary excur- 
sions from their hiding-places so long as 
the sun is above the horizon. They do 
not, like the Tasmanian wolf and the 
wrsine Dasyure, lie hidden in burrows under the earth, or in the depths of rocky ground, 
but follow the example of the Petaurists, and make their habitations in the hollows of 
decayed trees. 
The young of the Dasyures are, like those of all the animals of this order, extremely 
small. Their number is rather variable, but is usually from four to six. In this species 
the thumb of the hind-feet is entirely absent. 
DASYURE.—Dasyurus viverrinus. 
The PHAScOGALE, or TAPOA TAFA, as it is termed by the natives of the country which 
it inhabits, affords an excellent example of the little dependence that is to be placed on 
mere external appearance in judging the character of any living being. 
In size, the Phascogale is small, hardly exceeding the house-rat of Europe in dimen- 
sions. The total length of this creature is about seventeen inches, the long, widely-formed 
tail occupying nine “inches if measured to the point of the hairy tuft that decorates its 
extremity, and seven inches if denuded of its hairy covering. 
The fur of this animal is long, soft, and woolly, and lies very loosely upon the skin, 
so that it is disturbed by every slight breath of air that may happen to pass over its 
surface. In colour it is a soft grey on the upper parts of the body, the head, and the outer 
faces of the limbs, the under portions of the body being white, and slightly washed with 
