582 



NATURAL HISTORY 



A relative is the zebra-wolf, or pouched dog, of the same island. Its 

 name indicates its appearance ; a shape like a dog or a wolf, and stripes of 

 black across the grayish brown fur of the back. Like the devil, it is car- 

 nivorous, and formerly it was a great enemy to the sheep and poultry. 

 This led, however, to a war of extermination on the part of the colonists, 

 and now the pouched dogs are rare. Another form to be mentioned is the 

 banded ant-eater of western Australia, which here takes the place of the 

 true ant-eaters of the tropics. It has strong paws adapted to tearing open 

 the hills of the ants, while its tongue is long and slender, and covered with 

 a sticky saliva. 



Fig. 477. — Tasnianian devil (Dasyurus ursinus). 



We must not dismiss the marsupials without a reference to some of the 

 features of their reproduction. The young of all are little, blind creatures, 

 the largest not over an inch and a quarter in length. As soon as they are 

 born, the mother takes them one by one in her mouth, and places them in 

 the pouch, with the mouth upon the teat. The creature is too small to 

 suck, and so the mother has the means of forcing the milk out into the 

 mouth of the young. Were this the case with other mammals, the young 

 \\i mid certainly be choked when trying to breathe ; but here there is a pro- 

 vision against such a danger, for the windpipe, instead of terminating at 

 the throat, as in other forms, is here continued up into the back part 

 of the cavity of the nose. In the case of the large kangaroo the young 

 are suckled for eight months, and even after they are able to run about 



