158 FIELD AND FOREST. 



better known, it was discovered, to the astonishment of the scientific- 

 world, that the great mass of its mammalia, from the gigantic kan- 

 garoo down to the pigmy mouse-like petaroo, belonged to this sin- 

 gular order. To it belongs the curious bandicoot, the tree frequent- 

 ing phalangers and petauri, the savage native "devil," {Diabolus 

 tirsinus,) the ursine opossum of Van Dieman's land, and the voracious 

 subject of this article. 



The tiger or Tasmanian wolf, as the latter name indicates, is a na- 

 tive of Tasmania, or, as it was formerly known, Van Dieman's Land, 

 and is strictly confined to that island. It was first described in vol- 

 ume IX of the Linnean Transactions, under the name of Didephys 

 cynocephalus, or dog-headed opossum ; but its non-prehensile tail, the 

 arrangement of the teeth, and non-pedimanous feet, pointed out to 

 the naturalist that it belonged fo a genius entirely distinct from the 

 opossums ; hence the title Thylacynus — from thylachos, pouch, and 

 chyon, dog — was adopted. Dr. Gray, at very nearly the same time, 

 and with the same object in view, denominated the new species pe- 

 racyon — from pera, a bag, and chyon, a dog : the specific name, in 

 accordance with zoological nomenclature, was used by both, and is 

 still retained, although M. Temminck, the founder of the genus, gave 

 to the species the name of Thylaciwis Harrisii, in honor of its first 

 delineator. Mr. Gould has given a short account of this quadruped 

 in his " Mammals of Australia," accompanied by two plates ; the one 

 exhibiting the head of the male of its natural size, and the other giving 

 a point of view showing the applicability of one of the names applied 

 by the colonists : that of " zebra wolf." 



The Thylacinus may justly be regarded as by far the most formidable 

 of the marsupials, as it is certainly the most savage indigenous quad- 

 ruped of the Australian continent. Although too feeble to make a 

 successful attack upon man, it commits great havoc among the small 

 quadrupeds of the country ; and though hardly to be considered as a 

 swift or even quick animal, it contrives to kill such fleet and agile 

 prey as the bush kangaroo, and secure the ornithorynchus, or duck bill, 

 in spite of its natatory powers and subterranean burrow. When hun- 

 gry the tiger wolf seems to become a veritable camel in its capability 

 of devouring hard and thorny substances ; for it has been known to 

 kill — no easy matter — and devour the prickly covered echidua — a 

 much more formidable mouthful than any porcupine. 



