3. BASTUEUS. 



265 



Tte commonness of this species in Tasmania and its great rarity 

 on the continent are of interest as showing that it is approaching 

 the condition now exhibited J)y the Thylacine and Tasmanian Devil, 

 namely complete extermination in Australia, where both once 

 lived, and continued preservation in the island of Tasmania. Why 

 the small island of Tasmania should be able to support in con- 

 siderable numbers the three largest carnivorous Marsupials, com- 

 peting probably, to a certain extent, with each other, while they 

 have been almost or wholly unable to survive on the mainland, is a 

 problem which much requires elucidation. The presence of the 

 Dingo in Australia is no doubt one of the causes that have tended 

 to produce this remarkable state of affairs. 



a. Ad. skeleton. 



b. Ad. sk,, cj . 



c. Ad. St., S ■ 



d. Imm. St., tS • 



f J Ad. & imm. sk I 

 '■f- \ Skull of e. f 



9 

 k 



I Ad. sk. I . 

 1 Skull, f • 

 Skeleton, mounted. 

 Skull (cJ> 



j. Skull (t?). 



Herbert Vale, Queens- 

 land (Br. iMinhottx). 

 Gippsland, Victoria. 

 Tasmania. 

 Tasmania. 

 Tasmania. 



Tasmania. 



Tasmania. 

 Launceston, 

 Tasmania. 



Christiania Museum 



[E.]. 

 Purchased. 

 Gould Coll. 

 Purchased. 

 Gen. Hardwicke 



£P.l. 

 Gould Coll, 



Purchased. 

 Purchased. 



Haslar Hospital. 



2. Dasyurus viverrinns. 



Spotted Opossum, Phillip, Voy. Botany Bay, p. 147, pi. xv. (1789). 

 Tapoa tafa, spotted varietv, White, Joum. Voy. N. S. W. p. 285, 



pi. lix. (i790). 

 Didelphis maculata, Ken; lAnn. An. K. p. 199 (1792) (nee Viverra 



maculata, id. op. cit. p. 170) ; G. Cuv. Tahl. JBlSm. p. 125 (1798) ; 



Wiedem. Cuv. Naturg. Thiere, i. p. 179 (1800) ; Turton, Linn. 



Syst. Nat. i. p. 68 (1808). 

 Didelphis viverrinus, 8ha^o, Oen. Zool. i. pt. ii. p. 491, pi. cxi. (1800).- 

 Dasyurus viverrinus, E. Oeoff. Ann. Mtts. iii. p. 360 (1804) ; Sevast. 



M4m. Ac. PMersb. i. p. 443 (1807) ; III. Prodr. Syst. Mamm. 



p. 77 (1811) ; G. Fiseh. Zoogn. ii. p. 585 (1813) ; G. Cuv. B. A. i. 



p. 176 (1817); Besm. N. Diet. d'H. N. (2) ix. p. 139 (1817); 



Geoff. Biet. Sci. Nat. xii. p. 511 (1818) ; Besm. Mamm. i. p. 268 



(1820) ; Besmoid. Biet. Class. d'H. N. v. p. 339 (1834) ; Grat/, 



Griff. Cuv. An. K. v. p. 193 (1827) ; Less. Man. Mamm. p. 2l6 



(1827); Temim. Mon. Mamm. i. p. 72 (1827); J. B. Fisoh. Syn. 



* This specimen presents the remarkable anomaly of having an additional 

 molar inserted between the m.' an(i m.* of ordinary Dasyures on the left side of 

 the upper and on both aides of the lower jaw. In size also it is dwarfed, the 

 combined lengths of its first three molars being only 15 millim., and therefore no 

 longer than in B. viverrinus. The skuU is asymmetrical in the temporal region, 

 where it has perhaps been injured by a blow, an injury which, if done in its 

 mother's pouch before the formation of its teeth, may, by affecting the nervous 

 system, have caused the anomaly in its dentition. 



