A MARSUPIAL DOG 
about this and of course other marsupials is the exist- 
ence of a pouch; but the thylacine is remarkable in 
the fact that the male has very considerable traces of 
this pouch, which are not, however, large enough to 
render it a functional organ for the protection of the 
newly born young. The name thylacine signifies, of 
course, pouched dog. The inhabitants of Tasmania 
call it also tiger and hyzena, these names being suggested 
by the transverse stripes upon the body. It is more 
like a dog than anything else ; its head is long with a 
long muzzle, and the skull at first sight is so like that 
of Canis that it was frequently used as a “‘ catch” in 
examinations. The proper marsupial characters are 
there, but masked by superficial resemblances. The 
thylacine is now limited to Tasmania, and it has been 
suggested that the advent of the dingo dog, which 
accompanied as is thought the Australians in their 
wanderings, is partly responsible for its disappearance 
from the mainland of Australia, where it once lived. 
Its days will probably not be long in the land where 
it now abides ; for it has the pernicious habit of sheep 
stealing and the further habit of killing a new sheep 
each time that it feels in want of a snack. So the 
Tasmanian farmers, probably influenced more by 
economic than zoological considerations, will see to it 
that the thylacine does not multiply excessively. It 
has, however, this advantage in battling for life with 
_ the colonists, that it apparently can produce four young 
at a birth. We have spoken of the superficial likeness 
which the thylacine bears to a dog. This likeness is 
more apparent in stuffed animals than in the live 
Tasmanian wolf. The spry alertness of the dog is re- 
placed in life by a gloomy, distrustful, and unintellectual 
appearance, which is most unsuggestive of any dog. 
The thylacine has a curious habit which has been lately 
adverted upon. When standing at ease it plants down 
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