432 
Genus Dasyt/rus. 
Dasyurus. Geofhroy, Annals da Museum, tom. iii. p. 3.13. 1804. 
«« Temminck, Monographic* dc Mnmmalogie, tom. i. p. 66. 1827. 
y j_ j 
Dasyurid* with equal incisor teeth, - ; canines, — ; premoltn, 
— ; true molars, — = 42- Tail usually lone, and well 
clothed with long, or moderately long hairs l . 
This section contains flesh-eating animals, all of which are 
of moderate size, and nearly all have the fur spotted. They 
have been compared to the Weasels and Martins of the ordtr 
Cartiirora, and, indeed, such is the general resemblance of 
these carnivorous Marsupialia to the ordinary carnivora, that 
some naturalists have associated them with that group; the 
resemblance, however, is a superficial one, und when the species 
of the two groups are compared in detail, many important 
differences present themselves. Many of these difference 
have already been alluded to. sinco they include characters 
which separate the order Marsupialia from other orders. I will 
now notice one or two points connected with the structure 
of the feet, as serving to illustrate the foregoing remarks. 
In the order Carnivora I am acquainted with no species in 
which the scaphoid and lunnre (two of the upper row of wrist 
bones) are not joined so as to form a single bone: the carni¬ 
vorous Marsupials differ from the ordinary' carnivora in 
having the bones in question distinct. In the true carnivora 
the astragalus articulates with the heel bone, or calcaneum, 
by two surfaces, between which there is a strong groove; 
this groove is not found in the Dasvurus, where the articular 
surface is continuous 2 . 
1 Hence the generic mime ; from Saab r, and oCpos . 
" The Thvlacinns, \rhirh is merely a modified Dasyure, and which has been 
compared to the Dog, difler# more from the Dog in the structure of He 
astragalus, than does the Dog from a Monkey. 
