138 MARSUPIALIA 
head disproportionately large for the body; muzzle short and 
broad; ears broad and rounded; tail of moderate length, and 
evenly hairy. Hallux wanting ; soles of feet naked, without defined 
pads. Humerus with entepicondylar foramen. 
This genus is now represented only by a single species 
(S. ursinus) found in Tasmania, where, from its ferocious and des- 
tructive habits, it is commonly known under the name of the “ Devil.” 
A front view of the skull is shown in Fig. 35. 
The prevailing colour of this animal is black, and the size about 
equal to that of an English Badger ; its habits are fossorial, and it 
is very destructive to sheep. On account of the similarity in the 
number of its teeth this genus has been generally included in the 
next one, but in the structure of the teeth it is much nearer to 
Thylacinus. An extinct species is found in the Pleistocene deposits 
of the mainland of Australia. 
It may be observed that the two premolars missing from the 
typical series of four in this and the next genus are the second and 
the fourth; the fourth milk-molar being likewise absent. In 
Thylacinus and other Polyprotodonts with three premolars it is the 
second that is missing. 
Dasywrus..—Dentition: 1 4,¢4, p 2, m 4; total 42. Upper 
incisors nearly equal, and placed vertically ; first slightly longer, 
narrower, and separated from the rest. Lower incisors sloping 
forwards and upwards. Canines large and sharply pointed. Pre- 
molars with compressed and sharp-pointed crowns, and slightly 
developed anterior and posterior accessory basal cusps. True 
molars with numerous sharp-pointed cusps. In the upper jaw the 
first three with crowns having a triangular oral surface, the fourth 
small, simple, narrow, and placed transversely. In the lower jaw 
the molars more compressed, with longer cusps; the fourth not 
notably smaller than the others. Form viverrine. Ears long and 
narrow, prominent, and obtusely pointed. Hallux rudimentary, or 
absent ; its metatarsal bone always present. Tail long and well 
clothed with hair. Humerus without an entepicondylar foramen. 
Vertebre : C7, D13, L6, S 2, C 18-20. 
The Dasyures are small Civet-like animals with a gray or brown 
pellage profusely spotted with white; they are mostly inhabitants 
of the Australian continent and Tasmania, where in the economy of 
nature they take the place of the smaller predaceous Carnivora, the 
Cats, Civets, and Weasels of other parts of the world. They hide 
themselves in the daytime in holes among rocks or in hollow trees, 
but prowl about at night in search of the small living mammals 
and birds which constitute their prey. The species are not numer- 
ous, and include D. maculatus, about the size of a common Cat, 
inhabiting Tasmania and the southern part of Australia 3 D. viver- 
1 Geoffroy, Bull. Soc. Philom. vol. i. p. 106 (1796). 
