A hand-book to the marsupialia and monotremata

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Identifier: handbooktomarsup00lydekk (find matches)
Title: A hand-book to the marsupialia and monotremata
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915
Subjects: Marsupials Monotremes
Publisher: London : E. Lloyd
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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(Dasyurus viverrinus and D. geoffroyi), in which distinctand striated pads are lacking on the soles of the feet, are pro-bably far less arboreal than the others, since the organs in ques-tion seem to be developed/an/^j-jw with the scansorial powersof their possessors. Obnoxious, and at the same time wellknown, to the settlers on account of their depredations to thehen-roost and the dove-cot, the Dasyures may be regarded asplaying in Australia the role of the Martens and Weasels inEurope, since they subsist very largely upon birds and, at oneseason of the year, on their eggs. I. spotted-tailed dasyure. dasyurus maculatus. Viverra maculata, Kerr, Linn. Anim. Kingdom, p. 170 (1792).Dasyurus macrourus^ Geoff., Ann. Museum, vol. iii., p. 358 (1804).Dasyurus maculatus, Fischer, Zoogn., vol. ii., p. 584 (1813); Thomas, Cat. Marsup. Brit. Mus., p. 263 (1888).(Plate XXV.) Characters.—Size large ; form stout and heavy ; fur thick andclose. General colour dark brown (never black) with a rufous
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EH OftCO THE DASYURES. JS9 or orange tinge, and with large white spots; under-parts white orpale yellow. Ears rather short or very thinly haired. Hindfeet with the first toe, or hallux, present; claws of both feetlarge and powerful. Tail very long, brown or rufous brown,and spotted like the body. Six teats. Length of head andbody about 25 inches; of tail 19 inches. Externally this species may be distinguished from all theother members of the genus by its large size and spotted tail;while it is further characterised by the presence of well-definedand transversely striated pads on the soles of the feet. Itsskull differs from that of every other species by the auditoryor tympanic bullae at the base of the aperture of the internalear being obliquely oval, instead of spherical. Distribution.—From Central Queensland to Victoria, princi-pally on the mountain ranges, but extending to the coast andTasmania. In commenting on its distribution, Mr. Thomasobserves that the commonness of this spe

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