268 DASTTJEIDai. 



. , I Ad. sks. I , n Tasmania. Oapt Boss [P. & 



^'*' iskullof,/.)<^?- 0.]. 



I *Ad sk Tasmania. Ronald Gunn, Esq. 



[P. & 0.]. 



OT. Ad. sk. Tasmania. i Mrs. Gillies [P.]. 



n. * Yg. St. Tasmania. 



0. Heart in al. (Voy.H.M.S. 'Challenger.') Dr. Cunningham. 



p. Pouch with 5 foetuses. Tasmania. No history. 



q, r. Skeletons. Purchased. 



s-M. SkuUs. Purchased. 



3. Dasynrus geoflEroyi. 



Dasyurus geofi'royi, Gould, P. Z. S. 1840, p. 151 ; Waterh. Jard. Nat. 

 Lih:, Mamm. zi. p. 132 (1841) ; Ch-ay, Grey's Amtr., App. ii. 

 p. 400 (1841) ; Less. N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 190 (1842) ; Gray, 

 List Mamm. B. M. p. 98 (1843) ; Schinz, Syn. Mamm. i. p. 491 

 (1844) ; Waterh. N. H. Mamm. i. p. 437 (1846) ; Gould, Mamm. 

 Austr. i. pi. li. (animal) (1851) ; Wagn. Schreb. Savg. Supp. v. 

 p. 104 (1855) ; Schleg. Dierk. p. 135 (1857) ; Gieh. Sdug. p. 731 

 (1859) ; Gerrard, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 134 (1862) ; Krefft, 

 Cat. Mamm. Austr. Mus. p. 27 (1864) ; id. Attstr. Vert. p. 14 

 (1871) ; Schleg. Dierent. p. 159 (1872) ; Jent. Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. 

 p. 304 (1887) ; Coll. Zool. Jahrb. ii. p. 856 (1887). 



BlACK-TAILED DaSTITKE. 



Size, form, and quality of fur as in D. viverrinus. General colour 

 olive-grey with, a tinge of rufous, darker than in D. viverrinus, 

 profusely spotted with white. Face pale grey. Top of head, -back, 

 sides of body, limbs, and basal third of tail aU rufous olive-grey. 

 Ears (Pi. XXIII. flg. 1) large, with a prominent metatragus ; their 

 backs brown, but the edges both internally and externally white. 

 Body-spots smaller than in D. viverrinus, the diameter of the larger 

 ones from about 9 to 12 miUim. Chin, chest, and beUy white, the 

 bases of the hairs slate. Palms and soles naked, granulated ; the 

 usual positions of the foot-pads marked by rounded granulated pro- 

 minences, but there are no distinct striated pads developed (see 

 PL XXIII. fig. 2). Hallux distinct, about 5 millim. long. Tail 

 long, less bushy than in D. viverrinus, the hairs arranged distichously ; 

 its basal half above and fourth below coloured like the back, but 

 wholly unspotted ; end and greater part of underside black. Palate 

 with seven continuous but rather irregular palate-ridges, between 

 which are other minute and rudimentary ones. MammEe 6, 



SIcull almost identical with that of D. viverrinus, but rather more 

 strongly built, with the anterior palatal foramina rather shorter, 

 and with two large posterior palatal vacuities, these latter being 

 as a rule covered in by a thin bony network in D. viverrinus. 



Teeth as in D, viverrinus. Upper m.* usually narrower antero- 

 posteriorly than in that species. 



«• Specimens marked with an asterisk belong to the black melanistio form. 



