V.—THE DASYURUS FAMILY.—DASYURIDÆ.
These animals are all carnivorous, and prey upon small quadrupeds and the young of large ones, as well as upon birds and insects. They are of different shapes and sizes, according to the genera to which they may belong; and whilst some resemble the Shrew Mice somewhat in outward appearance, others are like the Marten, and one important group may be compared with Short-legged Wolves, or Jackals. Varying in size from that of a Mouse to a small Wolf, the members of the different genera of this family are equally variable in the number of the teeth, of the claws, and in the development of the marsupial pouch and its bones. They all have rather long muzzles and furry tails, which, however, are not prehensile. The second and third toes of the hind feet are disunited and well developed, and the thumb-toe is small or absent. There are eight incisors in the upper jaw, and six in the lower.
GENUS MYRMECOBIUS.—THE POUCHED ANT-EATERS.[116]
The BANDEDMYRMECOBIUSmay be taken as an example of this genus. It is about the size of a Rat, but it is more Squirrel-like in shape, and has a long and pointed muzzle. The tail is long and furry, with long hairs also; and the prevailing colour of the body is reddish, but posteriorly it becomes dark or black. There are nine bands of light or white colour on the sides of the body, from the back over the flanks, and the crupper is also marked with a band. The head is long, the ears are moderately long, narrow, and pointed, the gape is considerable, and the small pointed snout has some rather long smellers; there are also some long hairs under the eye. A black mark runs on the cheek to the ear, and has white hairs above and below it. The fur is somewhat remarkable. The under hair is scanty and whitish-grey, and the upper hair is rather coarse, short, and depressed on the fore parts of the body. It is long on the hind and under parts, and the hairs on the fore part of the back are black near the skin and reddish at the tip. The fur of the head is short and brownish above, being composed ofa mixture of black, fulvous, and a few white hairs. The fore legs are rather stout and strongly made, and the five curved and compressed claws are admirably adapted for its method of life, which consists of insect-hunting by digging. The hind limbs are suited to support the weight of the animal, as it scratches with the fore feet, but they are deficient in the first toes. The whole animal is about seventeen inches long, seven inches being included in the tail. This animal has a greater number of teeth than any other Marsupial, and, indeed, they are only surpassed by some Cetacea and Edentate Ant-eaters amongst the other Mammalia. There are fifty-two teeth in the mouth—namely, eight upper and six lower incisors, four canines, six compressed false molars behind the canines above and below, and ten small true molars above, and twelve below. The canines of the lower jaw are incurved, and the last lower molars are worn in ridges internally. The number of teeth appears, however, to be variable, and some have fifty-four and others less than fifty.
The Myrmecobius, although it has the inflected condition of the lower jawbone and small marsupial bones, not more than half an inch in length, has no pouch. The young adhere to the mother’s nipples, and are protected by the comfortable fur and long hair of her body.
The Banded Myrmecobius was first discovered by Lieutenant Dale, who procured a specimen whilst on an exploring expedition into the interior of the Swan River Settlement, about ninety miles to the south-east of the mouth of the river. Two specimens of this very elegant little animal were seen by Lieutenant Dale, both of which fled to hollow trees for shelter upon being pursued. The district in which they were found abounded in decayed trees and ant-hills; and, from some peculiarities in the dentition of the animal, combined with its extremely long and slender tongue, it became evident that its food was insects, and the softer and smaller species, for procuring which, by scratching up the earth, the strong fore feet and claws appeared to be adapted. Indeed, the peculiarities of structure, combined with the fact that the animal was found in the vicinity of ant-hills, suggested that its food, in all probability, consisted chiefly of Ants: and hence the generic name. As yet, however, we have no direct evidence that Ants form the chief food of the Myrmecobius, though it is stated, in Mr. Gould’s “Mammals of Australia,” that wherever this animal takes up its abode, there Ants are found to be very abundant. In the same work the following particulars of the habits of the animal are given from the pen of Mr. Gilbert:—
“I have seen a good deal of this little animal. It appears very much like a Squirrel when running on the ground, which it does in successive leaps, with its tail a little elevated, every now and then raising its body and resting on its hind feet. When alarmed, it generally takes to a dead tree lying on the ground, and before entering the hollow, invariably raises itself on its hind feet to ascertain the reality of approaching danger. In this kind of retreat it is easily captured; and when caught, is so harmless and tame as scarcely to make any resistance, and never attempts to bite. When it has no chance of escaping from its place of refuge, it utters a sort of half-smothered grunt, apparently produced by a succession of hard breathings.
“The female is said to bring forth her young in a hole in the ground or in a fallen tree, and to produce from five to nine in a litter. I have not myself observed more than seven young attached to the nipples.” It is not nocturnal in its habits.
With regard to the range of the genus Myrmecobius, Mr. Gould states that it is very generally dispersed over the interior of the Swan River Settlement, from King George’s Sound on the south to the neighbourhood of Moor’s River on the north, and as far westward as civilised man has yet been able to penetrate. Its species are also found near the Murray and Darling.
This many-toothed Ant-eating Marsupial has always been interesting to geologists, for in the Stonesfield slates of the Oolitic formation of England, which lie low down in the Great Oolite, the lower jaws of an animal have been found greatly resembling those of Myrmecobius. The fossil Amphitherium has the jaws but slightly inflected, and is not without resemblance to insectivorous creatures; but, nevertheless, its similarity to Myrmecobius struck Owen and Lyell many years since.
GENUS DASYURUS.—THE URSINE DASYURE.[117]
Being a great enemy of the poultry and tender rearlings of the colonists of Van Diemen’s Land, this small creature has earned the name of the “Native Devil.” It may be compared to a Bear, witha body about two feet in length, and the resemblance is tolerably correct in the fur, general proportions of the body and limbs, and also in its gait and its actions. The Dasyure, however, has a longer tail than the Bear, and never grows larger than a Badger. It is a short animal, with a round broad head and rather a long snout, and the coarse black fur (brown-black on the head, tail, and beneath) is marked by one broad white band across the chest and by another over the back, close to the tail. The tail is about half the length of the head and trunk. Harris notices that these animals were very common on the British first settling at Hobart Town, and were particularly destructive to poultry, and Mr. Gunn states that they commit great havoc among Sheep, and that notwithstanding their comparatively small size, they are so fierce that they are a match for any ordinary Dog.
DASYURE.
DASYURE.
As the settlements increased in Tasmania, and the ground became cleared, the animals were driven from their haunts near the town to the deeper recesses of the forests yet unexplored. They were easily procured by setting a trap in the most unfrequented parts of the woods, baited with raw flesh, all kinds of which they will eat indiscriminately and voraciously. They also, it is probable, prey on dead fish and blubber, as their tracks are frequently found on the sands of the sea-shore. In a state of confinement they appear to be untamably savage, biting severely, and uttering at the same time a low yelling growl. A male and female which Mr. Harris kept for a couple of months, chained together in an empty cask, were continually fighting. Their quarrels began as soon as it was dark, as they slept all day, and continued throughout the night almost without intermission, accompanied by a kind of hollow barking, not unlike that of a Dog, and sometimes a sudden kind of snorting, as if the breath were restrained a considerable time and then suddenly expelled. They frequently sat on their hind parts, and used their fore paws to convey food to their mouths. The muscles of the jaws were strong, and they crushed the largest bones asunder with ease.
This Dasyure, like the others of the genus, has the incisor teeth equal, and there are eight of them in the upper jaw and six in the lower. The four canines are large, and there are two powerful premolars in each jaw and on each side. These are succeeded by four molars above and below, and on both sides of the mouth.
The incisor teeth, equal in size, are arranged in a semicircle in the upper jaw, and those of the lower jaw have a corresponding direction, but they are rather the stouter. The canines are well developed, and those of the lower jaw bite in front of those of the upper. They look eminentlyadapted for stopping and seizing prey, and their carnivorous character is surpassed by that of the premolars and true molars. These last have a triangular grinding surface: the first has four sharp cusps, the second and third have five, and the last, which is the smallest in the upper jaw, has only three. In the lower jaw the last molar is of the same size as the last but one, and has four cusps; and the other molars have much resemblance to those in the upper jaw.
The hind feet have the toes separate and not united by a fold of skin, and there is a rudimentary great toe in this species. The condyle of the humerus is not perforated—as in the Kangaroos, for instance—for the passage of the blood vessels, but is whole, and the outside of the bone is marked by a groove, along which they pass.
Although this Dasyure has the lower jaw inflected, and is a true Marsupial, the resemblance in shape, and in dental and other characters, as well as in its habits, to the Carnivora is striking. Its fierce character and the nocturnal habits add to the similarity; but there are some very peculiar anatomical distinctions. The wrist bones, called scaphoid and lunar, those which are nearest the radius along the first row of carpal bones, are separate in the Dasyure, but in the Carnivora they are united to form one bone. And in the foot there is a peculiarity: for whilst in the Carnivora there is a groove between the heel bone and the astragalus, this is absent in the Marsupial Carnivore, and the articular surface of the bones is continuous.
TEETH OF THE DASYURE.
TEETH OF THE DASYURE.
The Dasyures have a small crest of bone on the top of the skull, which is also seen on a grander scale in the Carnivora. They have, moreover, the zygoma well developed and strong; it bulges outwards and curves upwards, but not to the amount seen in the true Carnivora. The occipital bone is developed as in the non-Marsupial mammals, but its parts, instead of joining together and forming one with age, often remain separate; but this does not appear to occur in all the species of the genus, for Owen, in his wonderful article on the Marsupials in the “Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology,” notices that in the littleDasyurus Maugeithe occipital bone presents the usual state of bony confluence. He notices that the Dasyure, in common with some other Marsupials, has the temporal bone permanently divided into its several parts, there being separate squamous, petrous, and tympanic bones; but the petrous and mastoid parts are usually united. This is a reptilian peculiarity, but the tympanic bone of the Dasyure is not without its resemblances to those of birds. The surface on which the lower jaw moves or is hinged, is not composed entirely by the temporal bone, but the malar bone is slightly included, and even the sphenoid comes into the joint.
Another marked character of the Dasyures is, that their hard palates are not whole, but have spaces and perforations, and this denotes a low organisation. This absence of a perfect hard palate is seen in other Marsupials, and especially in the Bandicoots (Perameles).
The angular process of the lower jaw, where inflected or bent in, is triangular and directed upwards, with a blunt point; and the condyle of the jaw is low, being on a level with the molar teeth.
BRAIN OF THE DASYURE.
BRAIN OF THE DASYURE.
It is remarkable that the Dasyures should have the bones of the leg, the tibia and fibula, so connected together as to allow of a certain degree of rotation on each other, after the fashion of the fore-arm bones. The muscles of the leg are modified for the purpose. This interesting anatomical point recalls one of the great distinctions between the fixed leg bones of man and those of the hand-footed Ape. It is not found, however, in the non-Marsupial mammals, whose habits of life are simulated by the Dasyure; but it is found in the Wombat, a burrower, and in the Koala, Phalangers, and Opossums, which are climbers. In examining the stomachs of the Marsupials, Owen noticed that differences in food and habit are not met by alteration in the shape of the organ, as they are in the higher Mammalia. Thus, the common Dasyure, the insectivorous Bandicoot, and the leaf-eatingPhalangers, have a full round, oval, or sub-triangular-shaped stomach, with the right extremity projecting beyond and below the pylorus. The length of the stomach seldom exceeds the height by more than one-third. No cæcum is found in the carnivorous Marsupial, and the intestine is short and wide, being continued, like the intestine of a reptile, along the margin of a single and simple mesentery, from the pylorus to the rectum (Owen). The liver has a gall-bladder in the Dasyure, and there is a pancreas as well as a spleen. The heart is contained in a slight pericardium, as in the other Mammalia. The Ursine Dasyure is found in Van Diemen’s Land only.
There are several kinds of Dasyure, which have been carefully noticed and described. One is called the Long-tailed or Spotted Dasyure,[118]and is about the size of a Cat. The fur is reddish-brown, pencilled with yellow, and is spotted with white both on the body and on the tail. It has a tail as long as the head and body together, and the under parts of the body and the fore-legs and feet are of a dirty yellow tinge. It lives in Van Diemen’s Land, and was, from its shape, at first called a Marten. The teats are six in number, three on each side, and seated within a slight fold only of the skin, so that there is no true pouch.
UPPER (A) AND UNDER (B) VIEW OF SKULL OF DASYURE.
UPPER (A) AND UNDER (B) VIEW OF SKULL OF DASYURE.
MAUGE’S DASYURE.[119]
This is a small animal, not larger than a half-grown Cat. It has a longish bushy tail, a broad head, and is somewhat of greyish-yellow colour. There are white spots on the sides of the body and tail. In confinement this little creature is torpid by day, but lively as evening comes on, and it rushes about, with its tail extended, with great rapidity. It is very injurious to the poultry when in a wild state, and is called the Wild Cat in Van Diemen’s Land. A variety of it is the Viverrine Dasyure, which has the head and body spotted with white, the general colour being brown, black, or grey, tinted with yellow, the under parts being white. It has long hairs to its tail; rather large ears, the flesh of which is of a pale pink, as is that of the naked lips, the tip of the nose, and the soles of the feet, the latter being hairless, but covered with small fleshy tubercles. There is no trace of an inner toe to the hind foot, unless it be a slight swelling of the flesh, marking the situation of the rudimentary bone beneath. Both of these animals are to be found in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land.
The rest of the Dasyures are widely spread over the continent. The smallest kind is the North Australian Dasyure. Geoffroy’s Dasyure, which has a thin tail and an inner toe to the hind foot, inhabits Western and Southern Australia and New South Wales, is a great killer of the Yellow-crested Cockatoo, and they hunt and kill Mice or Rats as well as any Cat. They have not a pouch.
GENUS THYLACINUS.[120]—THE DOG-HEADED THYLACINUS.[121]
This is a Dog-like, slim, narrow-muzzled animal, with clean and rather short limbs, a foxy head, and a tail about half as long as the body, which in males is forty-five inches in length. It is about the size of a Jackal, and the fur is short, but rather woolly and greyish-brown, faintly suffused with yellow in colour. The fur on the back is deep brown near the skin, and yellowish-brown towards the tip. It has from twelve to fourteen black bands on the body, and the tail has long hairs at the tip only. The eyes are keen, large, and full, and they are black and have a nictitating membrane.The animal walks half on its toes and half on its soles or palms, and thus is a semi-plantigrade, the body being brought nearer the ground than that of the Wolf in running. There is a marsupial pouch, but the bones are mere cartilages. The Dog-headed Thylacinus, or the Zebra-Wolf of the colonists of Van Diemen’s Land, thus described, has often been taken for one of the Carnivora, and certainly there are great resemblances between it and the Dogs. The canine teeth are of large size, but they are recurved at the top, and in the upper jaw are separated from the incisors by a space, into which the point of the lower canine fits when the jaws are closed. This is different in the Dogs, whose lower canine passes on the outer side of the upper one when the mouth is closed. The premolar of the Thylacinus has a small cusp behind, but in the lower jaw the premolars are isolated, and do not form a continuous cutting and masticating ridge. It is also to be remembered that this animal has a peculiar lower jaw, as it is one of the Marsupials, and the angle is inflected. It is a Marsupial, with some structures which foreshadow those of the more highly-developed Dog.
DOG-HEADED THYLACINUS.
DOG-HEADED THYLACINUS.
Mr. Harris, who was the first to make this animal known, states that it lives among caverns and rocks, in the deep and almost impenetrable glens, in the neighbourhood of the highest mountains of Van Diemen’s Land. The specimen from which his description was taken was caught in a trap baited with Kangaroo’s flesh; it remained alive but a few hours, having received some internal hurt whilst being secured. From time to time it uttered a short guttural cry, and it appeared exceedingly inactive and stupid, and, like the Owl, had an almost continual motion of the nictitant membrane of the eye. Remains of an Echidna were found in the stomach of the animal. Waterhouse states,on the authority of Mr. Gunn, that these animals are common only in the remoter parts of the colony, and used to be frequently caught at Woolnooth and the Hampshire Hills. They attack the Sheep at night, but are occasionally seen during the daytime, upon which occasions, perhaps from imperfect vision, their pace is very slow. Mr. Gunn also observes that the Thylacinus sometimes attains so large and formidable a size, that a number of Dogs will not face it. That gentleman denies that the tail of the animal is compressed, as has been stated by some authors, and his observations do not confirm the aquatic habits which have been attributed to it. There are cartilages in the place of the marsupial bones; but the pouch is well developed in the female Thylacine, and there are four well developed teats, each four inches long, indicating that it may contain four young ones at a time. The marsupium, or pouch, opens backwards, not, as in the Kangaroos and most others, forwards.
SKELETON OF THE DOG-HEADED THYLACINUS.
SKELETON OF THE DOG-HEADED THYLACINUS.
GENUS PHASCOGALE (POUCHED WEASELS).—THE BRUSH-TAILED PHASCOGALE.[122]
This genus includes many species of small Weasel- or Rat-like Marsupials. They are small, insectivorous, and climb shrubs and trees in pursuit of their prey. The largest known is about the size of a common Rat. The brush-tailed kind inhabits New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia, and is a pretty little animal, having a long and soft fur, of a grey colour above and white or yellow-white under the body. The eyes are encircled with black, and there is a pale spot above and below the eye, and the hairs are blackest along the middle of the head. The ear is rather large and not furry; the tail is about equal to the body in length, or seven inches to nine inches, and there is a portion near its end of about two inches in length, which is clothed with short, stiff hairs, and the rest has long and glossy hairs, sometimes an inch or two long. An insectivorous little creature, its teeth are modified to meet its diet, and they are less carnivorous than the other Dasyurids. They have the two foremost incisors of the upper and lower jaw larger than the others. There are three premolars in each jaw on each side, and eight molars above and below, which are studded with prickly tubercles, those of the upper jaw having triangular crowns. There are five toes to the fore and hinder extremities, and the inner toe of the latter is in the form of a small nailless prehensile thumb. The brain-case is large and the skull comparatively smooth. The species just noticed is said to enter the stores of the settlers, and it makes a nest in the hollows of the trunks of trees or in the branches. The female has no pouch, but ten teats covered with hair. It is the Tapoa Tafa of White, according to Krefft.
Another species, about six inches long, not including a tail of three inches—the Freckled Phascogale—lives in the Swan River district and at King George’s Sound, being generally distributed over Western Australia. It has the fur freckled with black and white on the head and fore parts of the body. Mr. Gilbert found insect remains in its stomach, and he obtained a female specimen havingseven young attached. They were little more than half an inch in length, and quite blind and naked. Above the teats of the mother is a very small fold of skin, from which the long hairs of the under surface spread downwards, and effectually cover and protect the young. This fold is the only approximation to a pouch which has been found in any species of this genus. The young are very tenacious of life, and those just mentioned lived nearly two days attached to the mammæ of the dead mother.
BRUSH-TAILED PHASCOGALE.
BRUSH-TAILED PHASCOGALE.
The Yellow-footed Phascogale is a kind which inhabits New South Wales and South Australia, and the White-footed Phascogale and a closely-allied kind live in South Australia and Van Diemen’s Land. In New Guinea, which constitutes a part of the Australian natural history province, there is a black, short-eared, and short-furred kind, about the size of a Rat, calledPhascogale melas.
ANTECHINUS.
ANTECHINUS.
There is a little kind, measuring only three inches in length, with white fur everywhere, except on the upper parts, which are ashy grey; and in Western and Southern Australia there is one which has great ears, very slender limbs, and a short and thick fat tail. It looks like a large-eared, fat-tailed Mouse, and is under four inches in length. All these kinds of Phascogale, except the brush-tailed one, belong to a group with very short hairs on the tail, and are sometimes classified under the name Antechinus, the thick-tailed one being termed Podabrus; and they all have shallow pouches.