VII DASYURES Magy il 
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- 
plals in Tasmania after their extinction in Australia is not uncon- 
nected with the advent of the Dingo. But it is stated that the 
Thylacine is quite capable of keeping even a pack of dogs at bay. 
The genus Sarcophilus has been frequently confounded with 
the next, but it. is kept apart by Mr. Thomas, who follows 
Fic. 79.-—Tasmanian Devil. Sarcophilus ursinus. x 3)5- 
Cuvier in this. An alternative generic name is Diabolus, 
which, hke the first name, refers to the habits and character 
of the single species which this genus contains. The genus is 
more like 7hylacinus 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 S. wrsinus, 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 general form is Viverrine, and the hallux is 
sometimes present though small. The dental formula is as in the 
