DASYUKID.E. 



117 



eels — it had made its way through the funnel- 

 shaped opening, and could not return — thus proving 

 that these animals are good divers. This naturalist 

 states that they feed upon Crustacea. 



THE DASYURES. 

 DASYURID^. 



The animals of this 

 group are the analogues 

 of the Carnivora among 

 ordinary mammalia, they 

 possess the same general 

 form of skull, and the 

 structure of their teeth is 

 very nearly the same as in 

 the Opossums; they differ, 

 however^ in having only 

 eight incisors in the upper 

 javv^, and six in the lower. 

 They form an exception 

 to the other Marsupialia, 

 in having no ceecum. In 

 external characters, the 

 most striking difference 

 consists in the tail being 

 well clothed with hair, 

 and in not being prehen- 

 sile. These differences 

 induced Geoffroy to sepa- 



TEETH OF UPPER AND LOWER ikVT 



OF Dasyurus ur sinus. 



