Dasyuriu.e. MAMMALIA.- 
■DasyuriujE. 
215 
neath. By all accounts these ursine opossums are 
perfect pests, and prove terribly destructive to poultry, 
sheep, &c., hardly anything coming amiss to them. 
According to Mr. Harris, they were extremely nume- 
rous when the first attempts were made to settle at 
Hobart Town; but they appeared to have done good 
service in affording supplies of fresh food to the con- 
victs sent thither ; their flesh is said to eat like veal. 
As the settlement increased, their numbers diminished, 
and they were driven into the forest, where they are 
still pursued and secured by traps. They are ex- 
tremely rapacious and savage, both in the wild and 
semi-domest-icated state. They utter a hollow barking 
noise, something like tliat of a dog ; and judging from 
their resentful persecuting behaviour, appear to have 
well earned the colonial appellation by which they are 
so significantly characterized. 
Several other species are known to exist; and of 
these we may mention — The Longtailed Dasyure (Z>. 
macrouncs), having a rudimentary hallucinar wart, by 
Fis. 
which it is distinguished from the two following — ■ 
Mange’s {D. Manffii), a smaller species of an olive 
ground colour; and Shaw’s Dasyure {D. viverrinus), 
or Wild Cat of the Tasmanians — Plate 31, fig. 97 — 
which has a black fur. All three are marked by large 
white spots on the body, and in the two first the tail is 
similarly distinguished. 
THE THYLACINE ( Thylacinus Harrisii) is a native 
of Van Diemen’s Land, and is variously termed by the 
colonists “ pouched wolf,” hj^sena, tiger, zebra, opos- 
sum, and so forth. It enjoys the distinction of being 
the largest of all the carnivorous marsupials, and is 
about the size of an ordinary fox-hound, but stouter 
built, and standing lower on the legs. The fur exhibits 
a dusky brown color, the crupper being barred trans- 
versely by sixteen deep black bands running parallel 
from side to side (fig. 89). The Thylacines are highly 
carnivorous, and prove terribly destructive to the flocks 
of sheep, which they seem to prefer to any other kind 
of animal food, though formerly they must have sub- 
89 . 
The Pouched Wolf or Thylacine (Thylacinus Harrisii). 
sisted, almost entirely, on })ha]angers and kangaroos. 
Tliey are seldom captured alive, and appear to be very 
wary animals. The Thylacine is nocturnal in its habits. 
It is furnished with forty-six teeth; but the circum- 
stances most worthy of note are seen in the strongly 
carnassial character of the molar teeth, and in the 
great size of the canines, as compared with other non- 
placental mammals. No other living species exists; but 
a fossil Thylacine has been discovered in the tertiary 
gypsum beds of Paris — a fact of extreme interest, taken 
in connection with other extinct marsupial remains 
elsewhere found in Europe, and demonstrating the wide 
geographical distribution these creatures maintained in 
former times. 
THE COMMON PHASCOGALE {Phascogale penicil- 
latus.) — The present genus embraces three or four 
very small marsupials, whose dental formula is pre- 
cisely the same as that of Phylacinus ; whilst the only 
dilferences appertain to the less carnassial character of 
the molars — serving to approximate them more closely 
to the insectivorous type — and to an elongation of the 
central incisives, which is more particularly manifest 
in the upper series. All the species are remarkably 
minute ; one of them — the Antecliinus minutissimus 
of Gould — being the smallest living marsupial, and 
measuring less than two inches and a half long, ex- 
clusive of the tail. In many particulars these animals 
resemble the entomophagous opossums. The common 
Pliascogale is about the size of our common rat. The 
fur is short, thick, and woolly, and of a uniform ashy 
color above, passing into white beneath. The tail is 
well developed, and very bushy towards the tip. Its 
