DASYURES. 



269 



when present, opens downwards and forwards. In the more typical forms the 

 incisor teeth are small, and the tusks large, as shown in the figure on p. 268; the 

 number of cheek-teeth being either six or seven on each side of both jaws. At 

 the present day the family is confined to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, 

 although in the Tertiary period it was represented in South America, where some 

 of the extinct forms appear to have been very closely allied to the existing thylacine. 

 While the larger species are purely carnivorous, catching and killing their own prey, 

 the smaller representatives of the family are mainly insect-eaters. In structure 

 these animals are the most generalised of all Marsupials, and come nearest to the 

 extinct forms from the Secondary rocks. 



The largest of the carnivorous Marsupials is the animal com- 

 monly known in Australia as the Tasmanian wolf, but better desig- 

 nated the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). In appearance this creature is 

 extraordinarily wolf-like ; and the unscientific observer would probably at first 



SKELETON OP THYLACINE. 



sight regard it as a member of the canine family. Nevertheless, the female has 

 a well-developed pouch ; although the marsupial bones are wanting, being repre- 

 sented merely by cartilages, of which the position is indicated by the * in the 

 figure of the skeleton. In size the thylacine is rather smaller than the European 

 wolf; from which it is readily distinguished externally by the tapering and 

 thinly haired tail, as well as by the dark transverse stripes on the hinder part of 

 the back and loins, and the shortness and closeness of the fur. The ground-colour of 

 the fur is greyish brown, while the transverse bands are black. In the hind-foot 

 the first toe is wanting ; and there are seven cheek-teeth on each side of the jaws. 



Tasmania is now the only habitat of the thylacine ; although remains of a species 

 near akin to the living one are met with in the superficial deposits of the mainland. 

 Like most Marsupials, the thylacine is mainly nocturnal. Its favourite haunts 

 are caverns and clefts of rocks among the deep glens of the mountains in the more 

 remote districts of Tasmania ; the settlers having nearly exterminated the animal 

 from the more populated regions on account of the damage it inflicts on their flocks. 



