THE DOG-HEADED THYLACINUS. 



215 



UPPER (A) AND VNDER (B) VIEW OF SKULL OF DASYUIIE. 



Phalangers, have a full round, oval, or sub-triangulai--shaped stomach, with the right extremity 



projecting beyond and below the pylorus. The length of the stomach seldom exceeds the height by 



more than one-third. No caecum is found in the carnivorous Marsupial, and the intestine is short 



and Avide, being continued, like the intestine of 



a reptile, along the margin of a single and 



simple mesentery, from the pylorus to the 



rectum (Owen). The liver has a gall-bladder in 



the Dasyure, and there is a pancreas as well as 



a spleen. The heart is contained in a slight 



pericardium, as in the other Mammalia. The 



Ursine Dasyure is found in Yan Diernen's Land 



only. 



There are several kinds of Dasyure, which 

 have been carefully noticed and described. One 

 is called the Long-tailed or Spotted Dasyure,* 

 and is about the size of a Cat. The fur is 

 reddish-brown, pencilled with yellow, and is 

 spotted with white both on the body and on the 

 tail. It has a tail as long as the head and body 

 together, and the under parts of the body and 

 the fore-legs and feet are of a dirty yellow 



tinge. It lives in Van Diemen's Land, and was, from its shape, at first called a Marten. The 

 teats are six in number, three on each side, and seated within a slight fold only of the skin, so that 

 there is no true pouch. 



MAUGE'S DASYURE.f 



This is a small animal, not larger than a half-grown Cat. It has a longish bushy tail, a broad 

 head, and is somewhat of greyish-yellow colour. There are white spots on the sides of the body and 

 tail. In confinement this little creature is torpid by day, but lively as evening comes on, and it 

 rushes about, with its tail extended, with great rapidity. It is very injurious to the poultry when in 

 a wild state, and is called the Wild Cat in Van Diemen's Land. A variety of it is the Viverrine 

 Dasyure, which has the head and body spotted with white, the general colour being brown, black, or 

 grey, tinted with yellow, the under parts being white. It has long hairs to its tail; rather large ears, 

 the flesh of which is of a pale pink, as is that of the naked lips, the tip of the nose, and the soles 

 of the feet, the latter being hairless, but covered with small fleshy tubercles. There is no trace of 

 an inner toe to the hind foot, unless it be a slight swelling of the flesh, marking the situation of 

 the rudimentary bone beneath. Both of these animals are to be found in New South Wales and 

 Van Diemen's Land. 



The rest of the Dasyures are widely spread over the continent. The smallest kind is the North 

 Australian Dasyure. Geoffrey's Dasyure, which has a thin tail and an inner toe to the hind foot, in- 

 habits Western and Southern Australia and New South Wales, is a great killer of the Yellow-crested 

 Cockatoo, and they hunt and kill Mice or Hats as well as any Cat. They have not a pouch. 



GENUS THYLACINUS. t THE DOG-HEADED THYLACINUS. 



This is a Dog-like, slim, narrow-muzzled animal, with clean and rather short limbs, a foxy head, 

 and a tail about half as long as the body, which in males is forty-five inches in length. It is about 

 the size of a Jackal, and the fur is short, but rather woolly and greyish-brown, faintly suffused with 

 yellow in colour. The fur on the back is deep brown near the skin, and yellowish-brown towards the 

 tip. It has from twelve to fourteen black bands on the body, and the tail has long hairs at the tip 

 only. The eyes are keen, large, and full, and they are black and have a nictitating membrane. 



* Dasyurus macrurus, or maculatus. 

 J (WAaxos, a pouch. 



t Dasyurus Maugei (Geoffrey). 

 Thylatinus cynocephalus. 



