INTRODUCTION. 
xix 
ordinary Sarcophilus ursinus of Van Diemen’s Land bears precisely the same degree of relationship that the 
Koala does to the Phalangers. Like the Thylacinus, the Sarcophilus is confined to Van Diemen’s Land. 
And I would ask, why are these strange and comparatively large animals now restricted to so limited an 
area ? for it can scarcely be supposed that they have not, at some time or other, inhabited the continent of 
Australia also. Had not Tasmania as well as the mainland been peopled for a long time by the human race, 
it might have been supposed that their extirpation from the continent had been effected by these children of 
nature. Whatever the cause may have been, it cannot now be ascertained, and we must be content to treat 
of the creatures that still exist. Of the true Dasyures, four very distinct species are dispersed over 
Australia from Van Diemen’s Land to the shores of Torres’ Straits. Tasmania is frequented by two 
( Dasyurus maculatus and D. river rims'), the southern parts of the mainland by the same two species with 
the addition of a third (Z>. Geoffroyi ), while the D. hallucatus inhabits the north. The animals of this 
genus are very viverrine both in their appearance and in their sanguinary disposition, and are probably the 
true representatives in Australia of that group of quadrupeds. The term ‘ sanguinary ’ is rightly applied to 
some of these animals, yet there is not one which a child might not conquer. The boldest of them are 
more troublesome than dangerous, and a robbery of the hen-roost is the utmost of the depredations their 
nature prompts them to commit. 
I now come to the most bloodthirsty of the Australian mammals — the Wolf of the Marsupials — the 
Thylacinus of Tasmania’s forest-clad country — the only member of its Order which gives trouble to the 
shepherd or uneasiness to the stockholder. Van Diemen’s Land is the true and only home of this some- 
what formidable beast, which occasionally deals out destruction among the flocks of the settler, to which it 
evinces a decided preference over the Brush Kangaroos, its more ancient food. To man, however, it is not 
an object of alarm ; for the shepherd, aided by his dog, and stick in hand, does not for a moment hesitate 
about attacking and killing it. The large life-sized head and the reduced figures given in the body of the 
work well represent the Thylacinus , and all that is known of its habits will be found in the accompanying 
letter-press. 
Until lately, only one species of Phascolomys or Wombat was clearly defined; but we now know that 
there are three, if not four, very distinct kinds ; and in all probability others may yet he discovered, and 
prove that this form has a much more extended range than is at present supposed. The P. Wombat is still 
abundant in Van Diemen’s Land and on some of the islands in Bass’s Straits ; and two or three species 
burrow in the plains of the southern countries of Australia generally. These huge, heavy, and short-legged 
animals, revelling in a state of obesity, feed most harmlessly on roots and other vegetable substances ; they 
are the Rodents of their own Order, and the representatives of the Capybaras of South America. With this 
group I terminate the first volume ; the next is devoted to the great family of the Macropodidce or 
Kangaroos. This, the most important of all the Marsupial groups, both as to diversity of form and the 
number of species, is so widely and so universally dispersed over the Australian continent and its islands, 
that its members may be said to exist in every part of those countries. They are found in great abundance 
in the southern and comparatively cold island of Tasmania, while three species, at least, tenant that little- 
explored country, New Guinea, and some of the adjacent islands. Varied as the physical condition of 
Australia really is, forms of Kangaroos are there to he found peculiarly adapted for each of these conditions. 
The open grassy plains, sometimes verdant, at others parched up and sterile, offer an asylum to several of 
e 
