Page:Mammals of Australia (Gould), introduction.djvu/33

 of Torres' Straits. Tasmania is frequented by two (Dasyurus maculatus and D. viverrinus), the southern parts of the mainland by the same two species with the addition of a third (D. Geoffroyi), while the D. hallucatus inhabits the north. The animals of this genus are very viverrine both in their appearance and in their sanguinary disposition, and are probably the true representatives in Australia of that group of quadrupeds. The term 'sanguinary' is rightly applied to some of these animals, yet there is not one which a child might not conquer. The boldest of them are more troublesome than dangerous, and a robbery of the hen-roost is the utmost of the depredations their nature prompts them to commit.

I now come to the most bloodthirsty of the Australian mammals—the Wolf of the Marsupials—the Thylacinus of Tasmania's forest-clad country—the only member of its Order which gives trouble to the shepherd or uneasiness to the stockholder. Van Diemen's Land is the true and only home of this somewhat formidable beast, which occasionally deals out destruction among the flocks of the settler, to which it evinces a decided preference over the Brush Kangaroos, its more ancient food. To man, however, it is not an object of alarm; for the shepherd, aided by his dog, and stick in hand, does not for a moment hesitate about attacking and killing it. The large life-sized head and the reduced figures given in the body of the work well represent the Thylacinus, and all that is known of its habits will be found in the accompanying letter-press.

Until lately, only one species of Phascolomys or Wombat was clearly defined; but we now know that there are three, if not four, very distinct kinds; and in all probability others may yet be discovered, and prove that this form has a much more extended range than is at present supposed. The P. Wombat is still abundant in Van Diemen's Land and on some of the islands in Bass's Straits; and two or three species burrow in the plains of the southern countries of Australia generally. These huge, heavy, and short-legged animals, revelling in a state of obesity,