CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 13. M ARSUPI ALI A. 



665 



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THE TASMAMAN WOLF. 



wonder when it was described as a "beaste that hath a bag under her belly in which she cam'.- 

 her young, at first no bigger than a raspberry, till they can shift for themselves." But this was 

 only the beginning of wonders, for New Holland presents us with about sixty species of quadru- 

 peds — carnivorous, frugivorous, and omnivorous — and nine-tenths of all are formed on the plan 

 of the opossum : wolves, foxes, rabbits, squirrels, sheep, rats, mice — or creatures very much like 

 them — and engaged, some in hunting and devouring other animals, some in climbing trees, some 

 in flying through the air, some in grazing upon the earth, and some in swimming in the water — 

 and the females of all carrying about their young ones in their pouches, which serve as cradle, 

 bed, house, and home to the little family ! Nor is this all : we have not only black swans 

 and white eagles, singing pheasants, and a thrush that in consideration of its music is called a 

 laughing jackass, but we find one quadruped that seems to be both an ant-eater and a porcupine, 

 and another that is said to have the habits of a mole, the bill and feet of a duck, and the internal 

 formation of a reptile ! The two last, however, belong to a different order from that which we 

 are now considering. Of the marsupialia, divided by some naturalists into several families, we shall 

 make a brief enumeration, grouping them, for the sake of simplicity, into genera and species only. 



Genus TIIYLACINUS : Thylacinus. — This includes the Tasmanian Wolf, or Zebra Opossum. 

 or Zebra Wolf, T. cynocephalus. It is of the size of a small wolf, with short, smooth hair of a 

 dusky yellowish -brown color, barred on the lower part of the back with sixteen black transverse 

 stripes. It is the largest and most powerful carnivorous animal in Australia, is nocturnal in its 

 habits, lives in retired caves, devours kangaroos and other small mammalia, and frequently com- 

 mits depredations among the sheep. It is found only in Van Diemen's Land or Tasmania. 



Genus DASYURUS: Dasyurus. — This includes the Ursine Opossum, D. ursinus, called the 

 Native Devil by the colonists; it is a voracious, burrowing animal of the size of a badger, found 

 in Van Diemen's Land. It is eighteen inches long, with coarse, black hair, spotted with white. 

 Its flesh resembles veal, and though once common, it is now scarce, in consequence of being killed 

 for food. 



The Spotted Martin, or Long-tailed Dasyurus, D. macrurus, is eighteen inches long, with 

 a tail nearly as long as the body; its fur is chestnut-color, spotted with white. It feeds on small 

 quadrupeds, and, when impelled by hunger, occasionally snaps "up binds among the marshes. 



Genus PHASCOGALE : Phascogale. — Of this is the P. penicilfata, an opossum-like animal 

 of the size of the brown rat, ash-colored above and white beneath, with a full tail : it is found in 

 Australia, and lives on trees. There are several species, one no bigger than the common moose. 



Vol. L— 84 



