32 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



short stiff hairs. Head and body, 100 mm.; tail, 202 mm. (Spencer, 

 1909, pp. 449-450.) 



"This species does not seem to have been recorded since its 

 original discovery, and we have no information about the type 

 locality beyond Spencer's vague 'West Australia' " (Glauert, 1933, 

 p. 21). 



The apparently total lack of additional information concerning 

 the species, during 30 years past, does not augur well for its present 

 status, although there is always a possibility that it may have 

 survived in some out-of-the-way corner of Western Australia. 



Common Eastern Native Cat; Viverrine Native Cat 



DASYURUS VIVERRINUS (Shaw) 



Didelphis Viverrina Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 491, pi. Ill, 1800. (A 



composite species, based in part upon "The Tapoa Tafa" of White (Jour. 



Voy. New South Wales, p. 281, pi. 58, 1790) and in part upon "The 



Spotted Opossum" of Phillip (Voy. Botany Bay, p. 147, pi. 15, 1789). 



The name has become restricted to the latter; type locality, Botany Bay, 



New South Wales. Cf. Harper, 1940, p. 191.) 

 FIGS.: Waterhouse, 1841, pi. 7 (as D. maugei) ; Gould, 1863, vol. 1, pi. 50; Krefft, 



1871, pi. 13; Lydekker, 1894, pi. 26; Le Souef and Burrell, 1926, figs. 87, 88; 



Fleay, 1932, pis. 3, 4; Pocock, 1937, p. 616, fig. 



This species, like its larger relative, Dasyurus maculatus, was 

 distributed through eastern Australia and Tasmania and has suf- 

 fered a similar or perhaps even greater reduction in numbers. 



There are two color phases, of which the black is the less com- 

 mon. Fur thick and soft; general color either pale olive-gray or 

 deep black, profusely spotted with white; belly and limbs paler 

 than back; tail bushy, without spots, tipped with white in the gray 

 phase. Head and body, 400-440 mm.; tail, 210-290 mm. (Thomas, 

 1888, pp. 266-267.) 



The range includes New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, 

 and Tasmania. 



The history and status of the species are reviewed by Jones (1923, 

 pp. 91-92) : 



It was abundant round, and even in the immediate precincts of, the larger 

 Australian towns. Twenty years ago it was exceedingly common about Ade- 

 laide. Still more recently it lived close to Melbourne; and to-day it is not 

 uncommon in the suburbs of Sydney. . . . Very early in the days of colonisa- 

 tion it was regarded with dislike because of the damage it did by killing 

 poultry; but there are many settlers who would now welcome its return in 

 order to keep the mice plagues within check. . . . 



There is no doubt that as a destroyer of mice, rats, and young rabbits the 

 Native Cat played an extremely useful part in Australian rural economy, 

 and despite the fact that it was an occasional robber of hen roosts its presence 

 was a real asset to the country. 



