136 MARSUPIALIA 



Family DASYURID^E 



Dentition : i ^, c ^, p and m numerous, variable. Incisors small ; 

 canines well developed ; molars with pointed cusps. Limbs equal. 

 Fore feet with five subequal toes terminating in claws. Hind feet 

 with the four outer toes well developed, and distinct from each 

 other and bearing claws ; the first (or hallux) clawless, generally 

 rudimentary, sometimes entirely wanting. Stomach simple. No 

 csecum. Predatory carnivorous or insectivorous animals, inhabit- 

 ants of Australia, Tasmania, and the southern parts of New Guinea 

 and some of the adjacent islands. The aberrant genus Myrmecobius, 

 though clearly a member of this family, is so sharply distinguished 



FIG. 39. The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). 



from all the others as to render a division into two subfamilies 

 necessary. 



Subfamily Dasyurinse. This comprises the more typical Dasy- 

 uridce, in which the premolars and molars never exceed the normal 

 number of seven on either side of each jaw, and in which the tongue 

 is not specially extensile. 



Thylacinus. 1 Dentition : i $, c \,p f, m % = 46. Incisors small, 

 vertical, the outer one in the upper jaw larger than the others. 

 Summits of the lower incisors, before they are worn, with a deep 

 transverse groove dividing them into an anterior and a posterior cusp. 

 Canines long, strong, and conical. Premolars separated from one 

 another by intervals, with compressed crowns, increasing in size 

 from before backwards. True molars in general characters re- 

 1 Temminck, Monographies de Mammalogie, vol. i. p. 60 (1827). 



