DAsruBrD^, 253 



Family V. DASYUEID^. 



Polyprotodont Marsupials adapted for a predatory, carnivorous or 

 insectivorous life. Limbs subequal ; fore feet with five toes ; hind 

 feet not syndaotylous, with four or five toes, the hallux either small 

 and olawless, or altogether absent, the other toes subequal. Tail 

 long, hairy, not prehensile. Stomach simple. No caecum *. Pouch, 

 if present, opening forwards or downwards, sometimes absent. 



Denmon:-l.^-^^\G.\, P. [t|t|4°^^, M. i^f^t"! (also 

 5 _ g'o, in Myrmecdbiimoe). Total, 42 or 46 in Basyurince, and 50 or 

 52 in Myrmecobiince. 



Teeth rooted, sharp, cutting, carnivorous. Incisors small. 

 Canines large and trenchant. First and third premolars always 

 present, second always and fourth sonietimes absent. Molars with 

 pointed cusps. 



Tooth-change generally present, except in the forms in which the 

 permanent p.* has been itself reduced or aborted ; not yet found ia 

 Myrmecobiince. 



Range. Papuan and Australian subregions. 



This family, as a whole, presents one of the most generalized 

 types found among the Marsupials, its members being simple preda- 

 ceous animals in no way markedly specialized, and retaining, espe- 

 cially in the case of Myrmecobius, many of the characteristics of the 

 earliest known fossil Marsupials. The larger species are flesh-eaters 

 pure and simple, catching their prey themselves, and not feeding 

 upon carrion ; the smaller ones are mostly insectivorous. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



I. ExTEEDfAL ChaBACTEKS. 



A. Tongue shorty not extensUe. Lower lip 

 rounded ia front, not produced for- 

 wards Dasyurinae. 



a. Back transversely banded with black. 



Form dog-Uke 1. Thylacinus, p. 255. 



6. Back not cross-banded. 

 a^. Body blotched or spotted with white. 

 Size large, form stout. 

 a'. Form very thick and powerful. 



Body with a few white blotches 2. Sabcophtltib, p. 258. 

 6". Form slenderer. Body profusely 



spotted with white , 3. DASYiTBtrs, p. 261. 



* I can find no trace, either in FhascologaU flavipes or any other species, of 

 the " small hemispherical projection " corresponding to a csecum, said by Water- 

 house (N. H. Mamm. i. p. 424) to occur in that animal. 



