26 
MAMMALIA. 
three sorts of teeth ; a big toe, which is null or rudimentary on the 
hind feet ; sharp nails ; the tail long and well covered with hair, but 
never prehensile. They are more or less nocturnal in their habits. 
Some attain to a rather large size, and are much dreaded by the 1 
Australian colonists, who rank them with certain species of true \ 
Carnivora. This family contains the genera Thylacin, Sarcophile, , 
Dasyure properly so called, and Phascogale. 
The only species of the genus Thylacin (Fig. 9) is the strongest 
Fig. 8.— Sooty Phalanger ( Phalangista vulpina, Var.). 
and fiercest of all the Marsupials. It was formerly common in 
Tasmania, where it is often compared to the Wolf, as it is about the 
same size, and has the same sanguinary appetites as that animal. 
Like the Wolf, it frequently falls upon flocks of Sheep, which offer 
it an easy prey. Yery common along the coast, it lives principally, 
it is said, on animal remains thrown up by the sea on to the 
shore ; it also eats crabs. 
Although smaller than the above, the Sarcophile has the same 
spirit of destruction, the same taste for flesh : indeed, it subsists 
