136 MARSUPIALIA 
Funily DASYURID 
Dentition : i4,¢4,p and m numerous, variable. Incisors small ; 
canines well developed ; molars with pointed cusps. Limbs equal. 
Fore feet with five subequal toes terminating in claws. Hind feet 
with the four outer toes well developed, and distinct from each 
other and bearing claws; the first (or hallux) clawless, generally 
rudimentary, sometimes entirely wanting. Stomach simple. No 
cecum. Predatory carnivorous or insectivorous animals, inhabit- 
ants of Australia, Tasmania, and the southern parts of New Guinea 
and some of the adjacent islands. The aberrant genus J/yrimecobius, 
though clearly a member of this family, is so sharply distinguished 
Fic. 39.—The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). 
from all the others as to render a division into two subfamilies 
necessary. 
Subfamily Dasyurinss.—This comprises the more typical Dusy- 
uride, in which the premolars and molars never exceed the normal 
number of seven on either side of each jaw, and in which the tongue 
is not specially extensile. 
Thylacinus..—Dentition : 24, ¢ }, $3, m4=46. Incisors small, 
vertical, the outer one in the upper jaw larger than the others. 
Summits of the lower incisors, before they are worn, with a deep 
transverse groove dividing them into an anterior and a posterior cusp, 
Canines long, strong, and conical. Premolars separated from one 
another by intervals, with compressed crowns, increasing in size 
from before backwards. True molars in general characters ye- 
1 Temminck, Monographies de Mammaloyie, vol. i, p. 60 (1827). 
