120 Zoological Society » 



genera feed exclusively on vegetable substances. The rest of them 

 derive a promiscuous nutriment from dead or decayed animal and 

 vegetable matter, Crustacea, and the refuse of the sea-shore, insects 

 in their perfect and larva states, live birds, young and succulent 

 sprouts, leaves, fruits, &c. The terms, therefore, vv^hich will be 

 given to the different primary subdivisions in the present classifica- 

 tion of the Marsupialia must not be understood to indicate strictly 

 or exclusively the nature of the food of the species severally in- 

 cluded in these groups, but rather their general tendency to select 

 for their support the substances implied by those designations." 



Tribe I. SARCOPHAGA. 



The genera in this tribe are the most decidedly carnivorous of all 

 the Marsupialia, and are characterized by an important anatomical 

 condition, viz. the absence of an intestinum ctBcum* 



Genus 1. Thylacinus. 



Incisors 3^ ; canines ^^ ; praemolares ~^^ ; molares ^^ : = 46. 



The incisors are of equal length, and regularly arranged in the 

 segment of a circle vv^ith an interspace in the middle of the series 

 of both jaws. The external incisor on each side is the strongest. 



The laniary or canine teeth are long, strong, curved, and pointed, 

 like those of the dog tribe. 



The spurious molares are of a simple, blunt, conical form, each 

 with two roots ; the last with a small additional posterior cusp. 

 The true molares in the upper jaw are unequally triangular with 

 three tubercles. Those in the lower jaw are compressed, tricus- 

 pidate, the middle cusp being the longest, especially in the two last 

 molares, which resemble closely the sectorial teeth {dens carnassiers) 

 of the Dog and Cat. The fore feet are 5 -digitate, the hind feet 

 4-digitate. 



On the fore foot the middle digit is the longest, the internal one 

 or pollex the shortest, but the difference is slight. On the hind 

 foot the two middle toes are of nearly equal length and longer than 

 the two lateral toes, which are equal. All the toes are armed with 

 strong, blunt, and almost straight claws. The only known species 

 of this genus, the Thylacine (Thylacinus Harrisii, Didelphys Cyno- 

 cephalus, Harris), is a native of Van Diemen's Land, and is called 

 by the colonists the * Hyaena.' 



Genus Dasyurus. 



Incisors ^ ; canines j^ ; prsemolares ^| ; molares ^ : = 42. 

 The eight incisors of the upper jaw are of the same length and 



