372 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



able kin of our common Opossum in this country are to be met 

 with there. 



Taken as a group, naturalists find that the marsupials readily 

 fall into six very natural families, the divisions being based 

 chiefly upon dental and other anatomical characters. 



Following the Didelphidw, we have the Dasyuridw, represented 

 by the famous Thylacine, better known as the Tasmanian Wolf 

 or Devil, or Zebra Wolf or Zebra Opossum (Thylacinus cyano- 

 cephalus), the only species of the genus known. It is a dog-like 

 looking animal confined now to the island of Tasmania, and the 

 largest marsupial of predaceous habit now in existence. The 

 conspicuous transverse bars on its back and loins constitute a 

 marked character, the general color being grayish-brown. 



Rapid extermination now seems to be this animal's fate, and 

 the savage havoc it formerly committed among the sheep of the 

 Tasmanian settlers, is now largely an early chapter in its life- 

 history. Another voracious animal confined to the same country 

 and belonging to the same family is the " Native Devil," a crea- 

 ture about the size of a badger, and likewise with fossorial 

 habits. (D. ursinus). 



Belated forms are found in Australia, and in New Guinea, 

 where likewise occur the peculiar rat-like marsupials of the 

 genus Phascogale, and perhaps the still more remarkable Myrme- 

 cobius, of which latter only one species is known, the M . fasciatus 

 of western and southern Australia. " It is about the size of an 

 English squirrel, to which animal its long bushy tail gives it some 

 resemblance; but it lives entirely on the ground, especially in 

 sterile, sandy districts, feeding on ants. Its prevailing color is 

 chestnut-red, but the hinder part of the back is elegantly marked 

 with broad, white, transverse bands on a dark ground." 

 (Flower.) 



In the family Peramelidw we also find some of the most re- 

 markable and remote kin of our American opossum. Recently 

 some very interesting anatomical developments have come to 

 light in regard to animals of this group, giving them an impor- 

 tance in the study of the law of evolution not previously seen 

 in them. Various species make up the genera, and in Australia 

 they are widely known by the names of " Bandicoots " (Pera- 

 meles), "Native Babbits" (M acrotis) ; and in the case of the 

 peculiar little Chceropus castanotis, the " Pig-footed Bandicoot." 



Other famous marsupials are all the forms of kangaroos of 



