348 



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 molars in this as in all other 

 Marsupials have two roots ; their crown presents a simple, compressed, conical form, with a 

 posterior tubercle which is most developed on the hindmost. The true molars in the upper 

 jaw are unequally triangular, the last being much smaller than the rest : the exterior part of 

 the crown is raised into one large pointed middle cusp and two lateral smaller cusps obscurely 

 developed; a small strong obtuse cusp projects from the inner side of the crown. The 

 molars of the lower jaw are compressed, tricuspidate, the middle cusp being the longest, 

 especially in the last two molars, which resemble closely the sectorial teeth (dents 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, Temm., Di- 

 delphys Cynocephalus, Harris), is a native of Van Diemen's Land, and is called by the 

 colonists the " Hysena." It is the largest of the carnivorous Marsupials, equalling in size 

 the shepherd's dog, but stands lower on its legs, with a head of disproportionate magnitude. 

 The principal characteristic of its colour is the transverse black bands which traverse the back. 

 It dwells in caverns and holes in the rocks, and seeks its prey by night, devouring the smaller 

 native quadrupeds, and at the present day committing destructive ravages on the numerous 

 flocks of sheep which have been introduced by the European settlers into the island. Even 

 the spines of the Echidna seem to be no defence against the destructive and voracious pro- 

 pensities of the powerful Thylacine, for the partly digested remains of one of these monotremes 

 have been found in its stomach. 



Prepared from a specimen presented by Ronald Gunn, Esq. 



1904. The skeleton of the female Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalm). 



This shows well the characteristic inferiority of size of the female in the majority of the 

 Marsupials. The marsupial bones are equally wanting in this sex. The seventh (last) cer- 

 vical vertebra is first perforated by the vertebral artery : 13 vertebrse are dorsal, 6 are lumbar, 

 2 are sacral, and 23 are caudal : of these last the fifth to the ninth inclusive have heemapo- 

 physes. The anapophysis appears first upon the ninth dorsal, as a pointed process projecting 

 from the back of the diapophysis ; it increases in size and ascends in position on the tenth ; 

 is large, obtuse, and underlaps the metapophysis of the succeeding vertebra in the last two 

 dorsals ; it progressively diminishes in the lumbar vertebra:, and disappears on the fourth of 

 ,that series. The metapophysis is developed abruptly on the tenth dorsal external to the 

 prozygapophysis, increases in size in the following dorsals, diminishes in the lumbar vertebrae, 

 but is present throughout the series as a strong obtuse process : it is continued, also, through 

 a great part of the caudal series, in which the zygapophyses become obsolete at the eighth 

 vertebra. The scaphoid and lunar bones are distinct in the carpus. 



Prepared from a specimen presented by llonald Gunn, Esq. 



