212 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



against his a fourfooted Ishmael the ursine 

 dasyure or Tasmanian devil. 



The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus ur sinus) is 

 fortunately but a small beast the size of a badger ; the 

 combined measurement of the head and body is about 

 twenty-eight inches, with a twelve-inch tail. 1 The 

 head is very large, with a broad, short muzzle ; the ears 

 are small and rounded ; the body is very squat and 

 stoutly built. The " great toe " is missing from the 

 hind foot ; the tail is slightly bushy ; the under fur is 

 abundant, soft, and woolly. The coloration of this 

 implacable little brute is as nearly as forbidding as 

 its disposition, being black or blackish brown 

 with a white spot on the chest ; other whitish 

 markings may occur on the neck, shoulders, 

 and rump, but are very inconstant. 2 The iris is 

 brown. 



The Tasmanian devil is entirely confined to the 

 island from which it takes its name. In the daytime 

 it sleeps in its burrow, but at night goes out 

 marauding and is extremely destructive, killing 

 anything that it can overpower ; even sheep fall a 

 victim to the persistent ferocity of these little vermin. 

 Armed with a terrible pair of natural shears, a 

 single animal is a match for the pluckiest dog ; the 



1. The writer once read an absurd sensational account of a meeting 

 with several of these animals, from which the reader might suppose them 

 to be as big as haystacks. 



2. The specimen in the Liverpool Museum has no white spot on the chest, 

 though there is one at the junction of the fore limb and shoulder , other- 

 wise, it is blackish brown all over, unspotted. 



