90 
added one of the rarest and most difficult forms to the series of 
Marsupials which have hitherto been exhibited in the Gardens :— 
“ Launceston, Van Diemen’s Land, 29th December, 1849. 
“ Sir, —1 have shipped on board the barque Stirlingshire, Chris’". 
Gwatkin, master, two living Thylacines (male and female) for the 
Zoological Society of London, and which I trust will reach you 
alive and well. Captain Gwatkin, whom I have known for some years, 
has promised his utmost personal care and attention to them during 
the passage home. I have put on board twelve fat sheep (together 
with hay for their sustenance) as sea-stores for the Thylacines, and 
have made every arrangement I could think of to ensure their safe 
arrival in London. 
“ I have had the female in confinement for upwards of six months, 
and it has become sufficiently tame to permit its head to be scratched, 
or to be otherwise touched through the bars of its prison, without 
showing any anger or irritation. The male, for which the Society is 
indebted to my friend Dr. James Grant of Launceston, was only 
caught a month ago. We placed it at once with the female, with 
which it seems upon the best of terms, but it is not yet so familiar 
with the presence of man. I have purposely kept their cage close to 
the side of a path where many of my servants pass daily, and where my 
children are in the habit of playing, and I find that beyond a hissing 
noise made by the male , they do not seem at all disturbed by any one 
going close to them. 
“ I have fed them exclusively upon mutton. They prefer the 
parts containing bones, and do not seem to relish the liver, heart, 
lights, &c. 
“ Both these animals have been caught in snares upon the upper 
part of the St. Patrick’s River, about thirty miles N.E. of Laun¬ 
ceston. 
" The female, which was first caught, was placed for some time in 
a small unfinished house at the St. Patrick’s until I could devise means 
of getting her down here ; and when I sent a trustworthy person up 
for her, he assured me that she was excessively agile—springing from 
the floor to the top of the walls, 6 to 8 feet, and from joist to joist near 
the roof with the activity of a cat. He also informed me that the 
Thylacine will not eat the Wombat, an animal exceedingly abundant 
on the St. Patrick’s River, and with which they attempted to feed it 
during the month it was there, previous to my having it brought down 
to my residence. Otherwise I have not had any great opportunity 
of observing any peculiar habits. 
“ Both Dr. Grant and I continue to offer high rewards for living 
specimens, and you shall have all the benefit of our success, whatever 
it may be. The great increase of sheep in all directions obliges the 
shepherds to destroy them by every possible means, and they are 
rarely caught alive, or if so caught, are killed whilst in the snares. 
I am therefore more than usually anxious that these should reach 
you safely, and I have offered the Captain a proportionate reward for 
their delivery alive. 
