DASYURUS GEOFFROYI, Gould. 
Geoffroy’s Dasyurus. 
Dasyurus Geoffroyi, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part viii. p. 151. — Waterh. Nat. Lib. Marsupialia, p. 132. — lb., 
Nat. Hist. Mamm., vol. i. p. 437. — Cat. of Mamm. in Brit. Mus., p. 98. 
No other species of the present genus is so widely distributed over the continent of Australia as the Dasy- 
urus Geoffroyi , which inhabits the whole of the southern portion of the country from Moreton Bay on the east 
to Swan River on the west. Unlike the D. Viverrinus and D. maculatus which frequent the country lying 
between the mountain ranges and the sea, the present animal appears to be exclusively confined to the 
regions on the interior side of the hills, the specimens I have seen having been procured on the Liverpool 
Plains in New South Wales, the Murray Scrub in South Australia, and beyond the ranges of Swan River 
on the western coast. I have stated of the other members of this genus that they are nocturnal in their 
habits, but that the present is not strictly so is shown by my having encountered one at midday while silently 
wandering in the Murray Scrub in South Australia, which, squirrel-like, ran up to the topmost branches of 
a neighbouring gum-tree, whence I immediately dislodged it with my gun in order to obtain a knowledge 
of the species. 
I believe that the Dasyurus Geoffroyi is never subject to those variations of colour so conspicuous in 
D. Viverrinus. 
Its brown tail clothed with much shorter hairs than in any of its congeners is a character by which it may 
at all times be distinguished from either of them. 
I have named this species in honour of M. GeofFroy de St. Hilaire, the eminent French naturalist, in token 
of respect for his valuable labours in the field of science. 
“ The fur is moderately long, rather soft, and on the upper part of the body of greyish hue, but much 
suffused with yellow, and pencilled with black ; and these parts moreover, as well as the sides of the body, 
are adorned with numerous irregular white spots ; the head has a few small white spots only, and is often 
of a greyer hue than other parts, but the muzzle is somewhat tinted with brownish, and in front of the eye 
is a dusky patch ; the ears are dusky brown and clothed externally with minute blackish brown hairs ; inter- 
nally with longisli pencilled black and grey hairs, at or near the anterior margin ; but towards the apex, and 
on the hinder parts, the hairs are minute and brownish ; the under parts of the body are white, or very 
nearly so ; the fore feet are brownish, sometimes brownish white ; the hind feet are nearly white, or greyish 
suffused with yellow ; the tail is yellowish at the base, hut much pencilled with black, the ends of the hairs 
being of that colour ; the black gradually increases towards the tip of the tail, and usually about one-third 
is entirely black.” 
The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size. 
