C1IAP. XIU.] 
THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 
439 
peculiar types being found only here. The southern portion is 
somewhat poorer, and has very few peculiar forms ; and Tasmania 
being isolated is poorer still, yet its zoology has much resem- 
blance to that of Victoria, from which country it has evidently 
not been very long separated. The north, as far as yet known, is 
characterised by hardly any peculiar forms, but by the occurrence 
of a number of Papuan types, which have evidently been derived 
from New Guinea. 
Mammalia . — The Australian sub-region contains about 160 
species of Mammalia, of which 3 are Monotremata, 102 Marsu- 
pials, 23 Chiroptera, 1 Carnivora (the native dog, probably not 
indigenous), and 31 Muridse. The north is characterised by a 
species of the Austro-Malayan genus Cuscus. Phascolardos (the 
koala, or native bear) is found only in the eastern districts; 
Phascolomys (the wombat) in the south-east and Tasmania; 
Petaurista (a peculiar form of flying opossum) in the east, Thy- 
lacinus (the zebra- wolf), and Sarcophilus (the “ native devil ”), 
two carnivorous marsupials, are confined to Tasmania. West 
Australia, the most isolated and peculiar region botanically, 
alone possesses the curious little honey-eating Tarsipes, and the 
Peragalea, or native rabbit. The remarkable Myrmccobias, a 
small ant-eating marsupial, is found in the west and south ; 
and Onychogalea , a genus of kangaroos, in West and Central 
Australia. All the other genera have a wider distribution, as 
will be seen by a reference to the list at the end of this 
chapter. 
Plate XI. X Scene in Tasmania, with Characteristic Mammalia. 
— As some of the most remarkable Mammalia of the Australian 
region are now found only in Tasmania, we have chosen this 
island for the scene of our first illustration of the fauna of the 
Australian sub-region. The pair of large striped animals are 
zebra-wolves ( Thylacinus cynocephalus), the largest and most de- 
structive of the carnivorous marsupials. These creatures used to 
be tolerably plentiful in Tasmania, where they are alone found. 
They are also called ‘‘native tigers,” or “ native hyaenas;” and being 
destructive to sheep, they have been destroyed by the farmers 
and will doubtless soon be exterminated. In the foreground on 
