212 NATURAL HISTORY. 



a mixture of black, fulvous, and a few white hairs. The fore legs are rather stout and strongly made, 

 and the five curved and compressed claws are admirably adapted for its method of life, which consists 

 of insect-hunting by digging. The hind limbs are suited to support the weight of the animal, as it 

 scratches with the fore feet, but they are deficient in the first toes. The whole animal is about 

 seventeen inches long, seven inches being included in the tail This animal has a greater number of 

 teeth than any other Marsupial, and, indeed, they are only surpassed by some Cetacea and Edentate 

 Ant-eaters amongst the other Mammalia. There are fifty-two teeth in the mouth namely, eight 

 upper and six lower incisors, four canines, six compressed false molars behind the canines above and 

 below, and ten small true molars above, and twelve below. The canines of the lower jaw are incurved, 

 and the last lower molars are worn in ridges internally. The number of teeth appears, however, to be 

 variable, and some have fifty-four and others less than fifty. 



The Myrmecobius, although it has the inflected condition of the lower jawbone and small 

 marsupial bones, not more than half an inch in length, has no pouch. The young adhere to the 

 mother's nipples, and are protected by the comfortable fur and long hair of her body. 



The Banded Myrmecobius was first discovered by Lieutenant Dale, who procured a specimen 

 whilst on an exploring expedition into the interior of the Swan River Settlement, about ninety miles 

 to the south-east of the mouth of the river. Two specimens of this very elegant little animal were 

 seen by Lieutenant Dale, both of which fled to hollow trees for shelter upon being pursued. The 

 district in which they were found abounded in decayed trees and ant-hills ; and, from some peculiari- 

 ties in the dentition of the animal, combined with its extremely long and slender tongue, it became 

 evident that its food was insects, and the softer and smaller species, for procuring which, by scratching 

 up the earth, the strong fore feet and claws appeared to be adapted. Indeed, the peculiarities of 

 structur-e, combined with the fact that the animal was found in the vicinity of ant-hills, suggested 

 that its food, in all probability, consisted chiefly of Ants : and hence the generic name. As yet, how- 

 ever, we have no direct evidence that Ants form the chief food of the Myrmecobius, though it is stated, 

 in Mr. Gould's " Mammals of Australia," that wherever this animal takes up its abode, there Ants are 

 found to be very abundant. In the same work the following particulars of the habits of the animal 

 are given from the pen of Mr. Gilbert : 



" I have seen a good deal of this little animal. It appears very much like a Squirrel when 

 running on the ground, which it does in successive leaps, with its tail a little elevated, every now and 

 then raising its body and resting on its hind feet. When alarmed, it generally takes to a dead tree 

 lying on the ground, and before entering the hollow, invariably raises itself on its hind feet to 

 ascertain the reality of approaching danger. In this kind of retreat it is easily captured ; and when 

 caught, is so harmless and tame as scarcely to make any resistance, and never attempts to bite. When 

 it has no chance of escaping from its place of refuge, it utters a sort of half-smothered grunt, 

 apparently produced by a succession of hard breathings. 



" The female is said to bring forth her young in a hole in the ground or in a fallen tree, and to 

 produce from five to nine in a litter. I have not myself observed more than seven young attached to 

 the nipples." It is not nocturnal in its habits. 



With regard to the range of the genus Myrmecobius, Mr. Gould states that it is very generally 

 dispersed over the interior of the Swan River Settlement, from King George's Sound on the south to 

 the neighbourhood of Moor's River on the north, and as far westward as civilised man has yet been 

 able to penetrate. Its species are also found near the Murray and Darling. 



This many -toothed Ant-eating Marsupial has always been interesting to geologists, for in the 

 Stonesfield slates of the Oolitic formation of England, which lie low down in the Great Oolite, the 

 lower jaws of an animal have been found greatly resembling those of Myrmecobius. The fossil 

 Amphitherium has the jaws but slightly inflected, and is not without resemblance to insectivorous 

 creatures ; but, nevertheless, its similarity to Myrmecobius struck Owen and Lyell many years since. 



GENUS DASYURUS. THE URSINE DASYURE.* 



Being a great enemy of the poultry and tender rearlings of the colonists of Van Diemen's Land, 

 this small creature has earned the name of the " Native Devil." It may be compared to a Bear, with 



* Dasyurus ursinus. 



