THE MARSUPIALS, OR POUCHED ANIMALS 325 



The Perameles, or Bandicoots, are marsupials with long, slender 

 heads ; large, long ears, with fleshy lobes ; longer hind- than fore- 

 limbs ; the tail short in some, long in others, and hairy ; and 

 the pouch is directed backwards. They are found in Australia, 

 Tasmania, and some parts of New Guinea, and about eight or 

 nine species are known. They appear to be omnivorous in diet ; 

 and unfortunately cause very great damage in cultivated tracts, 

 and consequently are cordially detested by the agricultural settlers. 



The Dasyuridae are all carnivorous marsupials, preying upon 

 small quadrupeds and the young of large ones, as well as upon 

 birds and insects. Varying in size from that of a mouse to a 

 small Wolf, the members of the different genera of this family 

 are equally variable in the number of their teeth, of the claws, 

 and in the development of the marsupial pouch and its bones. 

 The most notorious member of the family is the " Tasmanian Devil " 

 (Dasyurus ursinus), which resembles a large-headed, bluntly- 

 muzzled, very ugly badger in shape. It has the most diabolical 

 temper, and an innate ferocity that is simply astounding, and 

 is absolutely untamable. Though comparatively small of size, 

 its body is about twenty-one inches long, and the tail one-third 

 of that length, it is extraordinarily destructive to all animal life 

 that it can overpower, and was a perfect plague to the early colonists 

 of Tasmania, killing their sheep and poultry wholesale, so that 

 they had no choice but to wage a war of extermination against 

 it, with the result that in the more thickly settled regions the 

 " Devil " is now practically extinct. 



The largest of the Dasyures is the Thylacine, or Tasmanian 

 Wolf, a dog-like, slim, narrow-muzzled animal, with clean, rather 

 short limbs, a foxy head, and a tail about half as long as the body, 

 which in the males is about forty-five inches in length. It has 

 also been called the " Zebra Wolf " from the twelve or fourteen black 

 bands upon the body. It has a marsupial pouch, but the bones 

 are mere cartilages. It is in fact a marsupial, with some structures 

 which foreshadow those of the more highly developed dog. The 

 Thylacine, like the Tasmanian Devil, made the most voracious 

 attacks upon the flocks of sheep, and consequently had to be 

 hunted down, so that to-day it is only to be found in the most 

 remote mountain regions. 



The Didelphidae, or the Opossums, are not found in Australia, 



