Marsupials and Monotremes 



375 



Toe Native Cats. 



The animals common in Tasmania and tliruugliout the irroatcr portion of the Anstraliaii 

 Continent, and faniiliarlv known as Spotted or Native Cats, and to zoolo^dsts as I>a,syl;j{e,s, 

 enjoy also an unenviable rejaitation for their depredations anaorjy the settlers' hen-roosts. To 

 look at, these native eats are the most mild-mannered and inoffensive of creatures. Actuahv, 

 however, they possess the most l)loodtlursty ]iroclivities. and may be aptly compared in their 

 habits to the stoats, weasels, polecats, and other (.)ld AN'orld cainivora. There are some five known 

 species, the largest being equal to an ordinary cat in size, and the smaller ones about half 

 these dimensions. All of them are distinguished L)y their spotted pattern of ornamentation, 

 such spots being white or nearly so, and more or less abundantly S[)rinkled over a darker 

 background which varies from light grey to chocolate-brown. In the commonest form, represented 

 in the accompanying photograph, the ears and the under surface of the body are also often 

 white. No two individuals, however, are to be found precisely alike in the })attern of their 



Jl;/jifjn,uaaiu,t of S. Siadaif, Ji«,.\ [S;i,ln,ii. 



SPOTTKl) DASVUHES, UK AUSTKALIAN SATIVE CATS. 



This species is ratlier smaller than an onlmary -sized eat. All tbe dasyutes are aboroal in their habits, and very destmctive to birds. 



markings. The dasyures differ from the two preceding types, the Tasmanian wolf and the 

 devil, in being essentially arboreal in their haliits, living by day and breeding, as the majority 

 of the Australian opossums, in the hollow gum-tree trunks, from which they emerge at nightfall 

 to seek their food. This, in their native state, when hen-roosts are not accessible, consists 

 mainly of birds and such smaller marsupial forms as they can readily overpower. 



The Pouched 3[ice. 

 The so-called Pouched Mice represent a group of smaller-sized carnivorous mammals which 

 have much in common with the dasyures, but are de\oid of their spotted ornamentation. 

 None of them exceed a rat in size. They number about twelve or fourteen known species, 

 and are distributed throughout the greater iiart of Australia and New Guinea, and extend 

 thence to the Aru Islands. They are said not to occur in the extreme north of the 

 Australian Continent. The writer, however, obtained an example of the brush-tailetl species, 



