I 111. AUSTRALIAN REGION 



25 



Wales. Altogether the Dasyures number some twenty 

 species in Australia and Tasmania. 



Besides the Dasyures, a second type of the same family, 

 but in many respects divergent in structure, is found on 

 i li<- mainland of Australia. This is the My rmecobius, or 

 Banded Ant-eater, a little animal of the size and somewhat 



Fig. 2.— The Tiivlacine. 

 (Thylacinus cynocephalus. ) 



pf the likeness of the common squirrel, with a long bushy 

 tail and elegant transverse stripes across the back. The 

 M'/rmecobius is terrestrial in its habits, and feeds princi- 

 pally on ants. It is apparently confined to the western 

 and central parts of the sub-region, 

 i The Peramelidte, or Bandicoots, the second family of 



