chap, xiii.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 439 



peculiar types being found only here. The southern portion is 

 somewhat poorer, and has very few peculiar forms ; and Tasmania 

 being isolated is poorer still, yet its zoology has much resem- 

 blance to that of Victoria, from which country it has evidently 

 not been very long separated. The north, as far as yet known, is 

 characterised by hardly any peculiar forms, but by the occurrence 

 of a number of Papuan types, which have evidently been derived 

 from New Guinea. 



Mammalia. — The Australian sub-region contains about 160 

 species of Mammalia, of which 3 are Monotremata, 102 Marsu- 

 pials, 23 Chiroptera, 1 Carnivora (the native dog, probably not 

 indigenous), and 31 Muridae. The north is characterised by a 

 species of the Austro-Malayan genus Cuscus. Phascolarctos (the 

 koala, or native bear) is found only in the eastern districts; 

 Phascolomys (the wombat) in the south-east and Tasmania ; 

 Petaurista (a peculiar form of flying opossum), in the east. Thy- 

 lacinus (the zebra- wolf), and Sarcophilus (the " native devil "), 

 two carnivorous marsupials, are confined to Tasmania. West 

 Australia, the most isolated and peculiar region botanically, 

 alone possesses the curious little honey-eating Tarsipes, and the 

 Peragalea, or native rabbit. The remarkable Myrmecobius, a 

 small ant-eating marsupial, is found in the west and south ; 

 and Onychogalea, a genus of kangaroos, in West and Central 

 Australia. All the other genera have a wider distribution, as 

 will be seen by a reference to the list at the end of this 

 chapter. 



Plate XL A Scene in Tasmania, with Characteristic Mammalia. 

 — As some of the most remarkable Mammalia of the Australian 

 region are now found only in Tasmania, we have chosen this 

 island for the scene of our first illustration of the fauna of the 

 Australian sub-region. The pair of large striped animals are 

 zebra-wolves {Thylacinus cynocephalus), the largest and most de- 

 structive of the carnivorous marsupials. These creatures used to 

 be tolerably plentiful in Tasmania, where they are alone found. 

 They are also called "native tigers," or " native hyaenas;" and bein^ 

 destructive to sheep, they have been destroyed by the farmers 

 and will doubtless soon be exterminated. In the foreground on 



-'e* 



