DASYURID& 139 



rinus, Tasmania and Victoria ; D. geoffroyi, nearly all Australia ; 

 D. hallucatus, North Australia ; D. albopunctatus, New Guinea. 



Remains referred to D. viverrinus occur in the Australian Pleis- 

 tocene deposits. 



Phascologale. 1 This genus comprises a considerable number of 

 small Marsupials, none of them exceeding a common Rat in size, 

 differing from the Dasyures in possessing an additional pre- 

 molar the dentition being *$>C^,p$,m; total 46, and having 

 the teeth generally developed upon an insectivorous rather than a 

 carnivorous pattern, the upper middle incisors being larger and 

 inclined forwards, the canines relatively smaller, and the molars 

 with broad crowns, armed with prickly tubercles. The muzzle is 

 pointed. Ears moderately rounded and nearly naked. Feet broad 

 and short. Fore feet with five subequal toes, having compressed, 

 slightly curved, pointed claws. Hind feet with the four outer toes 

 subequal, having claws similar to those in the fore feet ; the hallux 

 always distinct and partially opposable, though small and nailless. 

 Tail long, very variable in its covering, being either bushy, crested, 

 or nearly naked. Pouch represented merely by a few folds of skin. 

 Mammae varying from four to ten in number. The food of these 

 animals is almost entirely insects ; some species pursuing their prey 

 among the branches of trees, while others are purely terrestrial. 

 They are found throughout Australia, and also in New Guinea and 

 the Aru and some of the adjacent islands. 



P. cristicaudata, a species with a thick compressed tail orna- 

 mented upon its apical half with a crest of black hair, differs from the 

 others by the very reduced size of the fourth premolar in the upper, 

 and its complete absence in the lower jaw, thus forming an interest- 

 ing transition in dentition towards Dasyurus. It constitutes the 

 genus Chcetocercus of Krefft, but is included by Mr. 0. Thomas in 

 Phascologale, the frequent absence of the fourth lower premolar in 

 P. thorbeckiana indicating that the total absence of this tooth in the 

 known specimens of this species cannot be regarded as of generic 

 importance. All the members of this and the two following genera 

 can be at once distinguished from Dasyurus by the absence of white 

 spots on the fur. 



Sminthopsis. 2 The genus Sminthopsis includes several small 

 species allied to Phascologale but characterised by the narrowness 

 of the hind foot, and by the soles of the feet being either granulated 

 or hairy, instead of naked. 



Antechinomys. 3 The last genus of the Dasyurince is Antechinomys, 

 represented only by A. laniger of Queensland and New South Wales. 

 This elegant little mouse-like creature, which has large oval ears and 



1 Temminck, Monographies de Mammalogie, vol. i. p. 56 (1827). 



2 Thomas, Ann. Mus. Genov. ser. 2, vol. iv. p. 503 (1887). 



3 Krefft, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1866, p. 434. 



