338 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
his sable namesake, he is 
‘ _ not always so black as he 
Ye) | is painted. More or less 
’ or in fact mostly black he 
always is, but there is 
usually a redeeming thread 
or patch of white upon his 
coat. This may take the 
form of a small star-like 
spot only on the front of 
its chest, which not infre- 
quently extends to a narrow 
crescent-shaped band or line 
continued round the neck 
almost to the shoulders. 
One or more supplementary 
spots of white may also be 
developed upon the flanks 
TASMANIAN DEVIL and hindquarters. 
A small, but stout and powerful animal, very destructive, and absolutely untamable The destructive pro- 
pensities of the Tasmanian 
devil, wherein the farmers’ sheep and poultry are concerned, are in no way inferior to those of 
the Tasmanian wolf, and in consequence of their former much greater abundance the havoc 
these animals committed was the more serious. Placed, like the last-named type, under 
Government ban, these native devils have, in comparison with the earlier days of colonisation, 
very considerably ceased from troubling, and with the ever-progressing march of settlement and 
civilisation will probably be altogether exterminated at a no-very distant date. A bag of no 
less than 150 of these marauders, in the course of one winter, was recorded from an upland 
sheep-station some twenty or thirty years ago. In common with the thylacine, it has been 
observed that the Tasmanian devil has a marked predilection for prowling along the seashore 
in search apparently of crabs, fish, or any acceptable flotsam and jetsam that may be cast up 
by the waves. ; 
Examples of this most unamiable of mammals were brought in alive on several occasions 
to the Hobart Museum during the writer’s residence in Tasmania, but in all cases obstinately 
resisted every attempt towards the establishment of a friendly footing. Their ultimate 
relegation to the specimen-cases was, under the circumstances, unattended by any very 
poignant manifestations of regret. A fact brought into prominent notice during subsequent 
post-mortem investigations was the extraordinary extent to which these animals are infested 
with vermin. Possibly this circumstance is to a considerable extent accountable for the creature’s 
unconquerable irritability. The experiment as to whether a course of disinfecting treatment, 
by baths or otherwise, would not conduce towards the taming of this native devil, where all 
other applied methods have failed, would at all events be worth the trial. The bath pure 
and simple is a wonderful soporific for unruly tempers. As most schoolboys know, a pail of 
water, from which the patient is withdrawn when a watery grave is apparently inevitable, is 
an unfailing specific for the taming of mice and other ‘small deer.” The writer’s experience 
with a villainously savage cat which one night fell incontinently into an uncovered cistern, and 
was rescued by him at almost the last gasp, will not be readily forgotten. That cat, though 
still a vixen to the ordinary members of the household, forthwith attached itself affectionately 
to its rescuer, and would sit for hours awaiting his arrival on the doorstep when the business 
of the day was over. Other fierce creatures, including the Tasmanian devil, would possibly 
prove amenable to the judicious application of the “ water cure.” 
apes ~] aphorism runs concerning 
Photo by York & Son 
4 
