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ordinary Sarcophilus ursinus of Van Diemen’s Land bears precisely the same degree of relationship that the
Koala does to the Phalangers. Like the Zhylacinus, the Sarcophilus is confmed to Van Diemen’s Land.
And I would ask, why are these strange and comparatively large animals now restricted to so limited an
area? for it can scarcely be supposed that they have not, at some time or other, mbabited the continent of
Australia also. Had not Tasmania as well as the mainland been peopled for a long time by the human race,
it might have been supposed that their extirpation from the continent had been effected by these children of
nature. Whatever the cause may have been, it cannot now be ascertained, and we must be content to treat
of the creatures that still exist. Of the true Dasyures, four very distinct species are dispersed over
Australia from Van Diemen’s Land to the shores 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. Geoffroy’), 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 some-
what 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 Z/y/acinus, 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, feed most harmlessly on roots and other vegetable substances ; they
are the Rodents of their own Order, and the representatives of the Capybaras of South America. With this
group I terminate the first volume; the next is devoted to the great family of the Macropodide or
Kangaroos. This, the most important of all the Marsupial groups, both as to diversity of form and the
number of species, is so widely and so universally dispersed over the Australian continent and its islands,
that its members may be said to exist in every part of those countries. They are found in great abundance
in the southern and comparatively cold island of Tasmania, while three species, at least, tenant that little-
explored country, New Guinea, and some of the adjacent islands. Varied as the physical condition of
Australia really is, forms of Kangaroos are there to be found peculiarly adapted for each of these conditions.
The open grassy plains, sometimes verdant, at others parched up and sterile, offer an asylum to several of

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