5 
GENUS DASYURUS. 
Flesh-eating animals, of moderate size, with spotted or striped fur; they resemble the Martins and Polecats of the 
placental order Carnivora , and are best known to the Colonists as Native Cats, or Tiger Cats, — the larger Tasmanian species 
as u Devils,” Tigers, and Hyasnas ; they have, however, no relation to the Cat tribe, and are Marsupial animals, with a 
shallow pouch or skin-fold. The teeth of the Dasyuri resemble those of the smaller Phascogales and Antechini , but the 
pre-molars reduced by one in each ramus. The Thylacinus is, however, an exception, and has three pre-molars in each 
ramus. The dental formula stands therefore (Thylacinus excepted) : — Incisors — , canines pre-molars molars ~ — 
42 teeth. 
Viverrine Dasyurus (Dasyurus viverrinus). 
F ur rather long and soft ; tail bushy ; ears long, generally carried folded down. General colour black spotted 
with white, or yellowish spotted with white; under parts of body lighter. No inner toe or thumb to the hind-foot. 
Female with six mammae, and generally four young at a litter. Total length 23 to 24 inches, of which the tail 
measures 8 or 8-g- inches. 
Habitat — Southern Australia and Tasmania. We do not think that this Dasyure inhabits the West Coast. 
North Australian Dasyure (Dasyurus hallucatusj. 
Fur of moderate length, and rather harsh ; general colour of the upper parts of the body dusky brown, much 
pencilled with yellowish, and having numerous irregular white spots ; under-parts white suffused with yellow ; tail but 
little bushy, cylindrical, the apical half or more, black. 
The above is Mr. Waterhouse’s description of a British Museum specimen, who also states that the animal is 
less in size than either the Common or Geoffroy’s Dasyure. The hind-foot is provided with a thumb. Nothing is 
stated about skull or skeleton, and though we enumerate the species as distinct for the present, it will be seen when the 
description of Dasyurus geoffroyi is compared with it that both animals are identical. The habitat is given as North 
Australia, Port Essington. 
Geoffroy’s Dasyurus (Dasyurus geoffroyi). 
Fur moderate, general colour of the upper parts yellowish pencilled with black, and having numerous irregular 
white spots ; body beneath white ; tail immaculate, black at the apex ; hind-foot with a thumb. 
Habitat — West Australia, South Australia, and New r South Wales. 
The fine series of Dasyures in the Australian Museum enables us to state without doubt that both species, 
Dasyurus hallucatus and Dasyurus geoffroyi, are varieties of each other. The Museum is in possession of specimens which 
answer to both descriptions — specimens in which the yellow and some in which the darker tint predominates. There is 
one example with a very bushy tail and scarcely any black hair at the apex, and there are others with a cylindrical 
tail, which is tipped with black. Colouration is of very little value in the determination of species, and as we have 
compared the skulls of these various coloured animals, we can only state that they differ in nothing material except 
size. The largest specimens occur on the Murray River, those from other parts of South Australia are much smaller 
and darker in colour, but now and then, examples are found which are pale yellowish. 
The name of Dasyurus geoffroyi should therefore be adopted for both animals. On the east coast this Dasyure 
has not yet been noticed. 
Spotted-tailed Dasyurus (Dasyurus maculatus). 
Fur rather harsh and short ; general colour from deep brown to light reddish brown pencilled with yellowish ; 
body beneath sandy-coloured, the whole, including the tail, spotted with white ; a thumb to the hind-foot. 
The present animal differs as much in size and colour as did the last-mentioned species, and its geographical 
distribution is as extensive. Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, have accorded it as inhabiting 
these Colonies. We have also seen examples from Queensland. It is peculiar to the Coast Districts, but has not yet 
been observed in the far North or on the West Coast. The spotted-tailed Dasyure grows to a large size, and is provided 
with most formidable teeth. Mr. Waterhouse, the able naturalist, who has written a most valuable work on the 
Marsupialia, mentions a skull as that of an aged individual 3 inches 6-| lines long; but a specimen in the Australian 
Museum measures fully 4^ inches, and the upper canines are 1^- inches in length. Specimens have been observed as 
large as a common Fox; and as these animals are not only very ferocious but also exceedingly stubborn, it frequently 
happens that they make great havoc if they gain admission to the poultry-yard of the settler. 
