272 POUCHED MAMMALS. 
on the fur, and by the presence of an additional premolar in each jaw, thus bringing 
up the number of cheek-teeth to seven on each side. The crowns of these teeth are 
more minutely cusped, and the canines relatively smaller than in the dasyures. The 
muzzle is rather long and pointed, the ears moderately rounded and nearly naked, 
and the feet short and broad; the hind-foot always having a distinct, although nailless, 
first toe. The long tail is subject to considerable variation in the different species, 
being in some cases bushy, in others furnished with a crest of hair, and in others 
nearly naked. The pouch is rudimentary, being represented merely by a few loose 
folds of skin. Probably these animals produce a larger number of young at a birth 
than any other Australasian Marsupials, seeing that in some species the number of 
teats may be as many as ten. There are altogether thirteen distinct species of the 
genus, distributed over Australia and New Guinea, and also ranging into the Aru 
Islands. Of these thirteen, nine are distinguished by the absence of any stripe down 
the back,and are mainly confined to Australia. This stripe is present in the remaining 




COMMON DASYURE ({ nat. size). 
four, which are exclusively Papuan. Of the two species figured here, the yellow- 
footed pouched-mouse (P. flavipes) is a small form, liable to considerable variation 
in point of size and colour, and inhabiting a large portion of Australia, although 
unknown in Tasmania. It belongs to a section of the first group, characterised by 
the tail being evenly covered with short hair. In general appearance it is a mouse- 
like creature, with close and rather crisp fur, of which the prevailing colour is 
clear grey more or less suffused with yellow or rufous. The under-parts, together 
with the feet, in the typical East Australian variety, are yellow; this colour 
sometimes deepening to rufous and spreading over the whole body. The variety 
inhabiting Western and Northern Australia differs in that the whole of the under- 
parts and limbs are more or less nearly pure white instead of yellow. 
The brush-tailed phascologale (P. penicillata) is a larger species, inhabiting 
the whole of Australia except the extreme north, although likewise unknown in 
Tasmania. It belongs to a section of the unstriped group, characterised by the 
extremity of the tail being evenly tufted on all sides. It is a more stoutly-built 
