THYLACINUS CYNOCEPHALUS. 
Thylacinus. 
Didelphis cynocephala, Harris, Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. ix. p. 174. pi. 19. 
Dasyurus cynocephalus, Geoff. Ann. du Mus., tom. xv. p. 304. 
Thylacinus cynocephalus, Fisch. Syn. Mamm., p. 270. — Wagn. in Schreb. Saug. Supp., 109-110 Heft, p. 19. — 
Waterh. Nat. Lib. (Marsupialia), vol. xi. p. 123. pi. 5. — lb. Nat. Hist. Mamm., vol. i. p. 456. pi. 
16. fig. 2. 
Thylacinus Harrisii, Temm. Mon. de Mamm., vol. i. p. 63. pi. 7. figs. 1-4. 
Peracyon cynocephalus, Gray, List of Mamm. in Brit. Mus., p. 97. 
Tiger, Hyaena, Zebra- Opossum, Zebra-Wolf, and Dog-headed Opossum of the Colonists. 
The circumstance of a fine pair, male and female, of the Thylacinus cynocephalus being now living in the Gar- 
dens of the Zoological Society in the Regent’s Park, enables me to give the best figure of the animal that has 
yet appeared ; and so great is the interest which attaches to this singular species, that I have been induced 
to give a representation of its head of the natural size, in addition to that of the entire animal on a reduced 
scale. Tasmania, better known as Van Diemen’s Land, is the country it inhabits, and so strictly is it 
confined to that island, that I believe no instance is on record of its having been found on the neigh- 
bouring continent of Australia. It must be regarded as the most formidable, both of the Marsupialia and 
of the indigenous mammals of Australia ; for although too feeble to make a successful attack on man, it 
commits sad havoc among the smaller quadrupeds of the country, and among the poultry, and other domestic 
animals of the settler ; even sheep are not secure from its attacks, which are the more difficult to be guarded 
against, as the habits of the animal being nocturnal, they are always made at night. The destruction it deals 
around has, as a matter of course, called forth the enmity of the settler, and hence in all cultivated districts 
the animal is nearly extirpated ; on the other hand, so much of Tasmania still remains in a state of nature, 
and so much of its forest land yet uncleared, that an abundance of covert still remains in which the animal 
is secure from the attacks of man ; many years must therefore elapse before it can become entirely extinct ; 
in these remote districts it preys upon Halmaturus Billardieri and H. Bennetti, Bandicoots, Echidnae, and 
all the smaller animals. 
In confinement it is excessively shy, and on being alarmed dashes and leaps about its cage in the most 
violent manner, uttering at the same time a short guttural cry resembling a bark ; but whether this sound 
is also emitted in a state of nature, has not been observed. Mr. Ronald C. Gunn, who has had better op- 
portunities than any other scientific man of observing the animal in its native wilds, states that it is common 
in the more remote parts of the colony, and that it is often caught at Woolnooth and the Hampshire Hills. 
He has seen some so large and powerful, that a number of dogs would not face one of them. Its attacks 
on sheep are usually made by night, but it also prowls about in the day-time, when, perhaps from its im- 
perfect vision by day, its pace is very slow. 
Mr. Harris, to whom we are indebted for our first knowledge of the animal, states that it dwells among 
caverns and rocks in the deep and almost impenetrable glens in the neighbourhood of the highest moun- 
tains of Van Diemen’s Land. The specimen from which his description was taken, was caught in a trap 
baited with kangaroo’s flesh ; it remained alive but a few hours, having received some internal hurt while 
being secured ; it appeared exceedingly inactive and stupid, and, like the Owl, kept almost continually 
moving the nictitating membrane with which the eye is furnished : the remains of an Echidna were found 
in its stomach. 
In a letter lately received from Mr. Gunn by D. W. Mitchell, Esq., Sec. Zool. Soc., dated Launceston, 
Nov. 12, 1850, the following note occurs respecting the specimens in the Society’s menagerie : — 
“I feel little doubt but that the Thylacines will do well and very probably breed; the number of young 
is four at a litter— at least I have seen four in the female’s pouch, but there may often be fewer. They 
inhabit the summits of the western mountains (alt. 3500 feet), where, occasionally, snow falls for many 
months of the year, where the ground is sometimes covered with snow for weeks, and where frosts are 
severe ; therefore I can imagine nothing in the climate of London likely to injure them very materially.” 
