two mice, and one water-rat, that all our mammals are either
Marsupial (pouched) or Monotrematous (a closely-allied form, to which
belong the platypus and porcupine of the colonists). Orders found in
other countries, such as the _Pachydermata_ and _Ruminantia_, are in
Tasmania wholly wanting, as they are also throughout the extensive
continent of Australia.

It is also remarkable that twelve out of the twenty-six animals are
peculiar to this small island, and have not yet been detected elsewhere.
Amongst those thus limited in their geographical range are the tiger and
devil of the colonists, the two largest indigenous Australian
carnivorous quadrupeds.

Australia is the great metropolis of the marsupial animals. Certain
species of the group are found in North and South America, and in New
Guinea, the Moluccas, and adjacent islands, but the numbers seem limited
as compared with the other indigenous quadrupeds of those countries.
Professor Owen observes:--"That the marsupialia form one great natural
group is now generally admitted by zoologists. The representatives in
that group of many of the orders of the more extensive placental
sub-class of the mammalia of the larger continents have also been
recognised in the existing genera and species:--the Dasyures, for
example, play the parts of the _Carnivora_, the Bandicoots of the
_Insectivora_, the Phalangers of the _Quadrumana_, the Wombat of the
_Rodentia,_ and the Kangaroos, in a remoter degree, that of the
_Ruminantia_."[268]

The Tiger or Hyaena of the colonists (_Thylacinus cynocephalus_, Harris)
is a very powerful animal, about the size of a large dog, with short
legs. It is of a tawny or brownish yellow color, with numerous black
bands arranged transversely along the back, from the shoulders to the
tail; hence the erroneous names tiger and hyaena, given to it by the
early settlers. The muzzle is rather elongated, the ears short and
erect, and the pupils elliptical, corresponding with its leaping,
predaceous habits; if it had the characteristic brush instead of a long
taper tail, its figure would bear a considerable resemblance to that of
the fox. The female is much smaller, but more active and supple in its
movements than the male. They prey upon kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots,
and other native animals; hunting by night, their exquisite sense of
smell enables them to steal cautiously upon these defenceless animals,
in the thick covers of the low grassy flats and s