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.
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 little Dasyurus Maugei the 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.
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-eating Phalangers, 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.