322 THE GEOGKAPHY OF MAMMALS 



ordinary form and habits of Notoryctes typhlops, the sole 

 representative of the family Notoryctidte, an inhabitant of 

 the most barren and desolate regions of the Australian 

 Continent. 



In the Dasyuridaz, under which family are ranged 

 the most purely carnivorous animals of the Australian 

 mammal-fauna, we have a widely diffused and more 

 numerous group consisting of some seven genera and 

 about twenty-eight species. The largest of these is the 

 Thylacine, now confined to Tasmania, but formerly found 

 also on the adjoining continent. Its extraordinary dog-like 

 appearance strikes the ordinary spectator with astonish- 

 ment, when he is told that it is in no way nearly related 

 to the Canida3. It is, however, truly and purely carnivorous 

 in its habits, as is its smaller ally Sarcophilus ursinus, 

 also in these days entirely restricted to Tasmania. The 

 Dasyures (Dasyurus), of which five species constitute the 

 next genus, are the largest carnivorous mammals now 

 existing in Australia, where four species are recognized, 

 a fifth being restricted to New Guinea. The three next 

 genera of Dasyuridm contain numerous small insecti- 

 vorous forms, which are found in the Papuan Sub- 

 region as well as in Australia. The series of Dasyures 

 is concluded by the peculiar little form Myrmecobius, or 

 " Marsupial Ant-eater " as it is often called. This is so 

 different from the typical Dasyures that it may be more 

 correctly regarded as constituting a family by itself, and 

 is of special interest as being generally supposed to be 

 a near relative of the Mesozoic Polyprotodont Marsupials 

 of the Jurassic beds of England. 



We now come to the eighth and last family of the 

 Marsupial Order. It consists of the Opossums, which are, 



