Mr. Harris's Description oftzvo new Species of Didelphis. 177 



ones at a time, which, like the rest of this genus, are small, 

 naked, and blind, adhering firmly by their mouths to the 

 teats. 



These animals were very common on our first settling at Uo- 

 bart Town, arid were particularly destructive to poultry, Sec. 

 They, however, furnished the convicts with a fresh meal, and 

 the taste was said to be not unlike veal. As the settlement in- 

 creased, and the ground became cleared, they were driven from 

 their haunts near the town to the deeper recesses of forests yet 

 unexplored. They are, however, easily procured by setting a 

 trap in the most unfrequented parts of the woods, baited with 

 raw flesh, all kinds of which they eat indiscriminately and vo- 

 raciously ; they also, it is probable, prey on dead fish, blubber, 

 Sec. as their tracks are frequently found on the sands of the sea 

 shore. 



In a state of confinement, they appear to be untameably 

 savage ; biting severely, and uttering at the same time a low 

 yelling growl. A male and female, which I 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 with- 

 out intermission, accompanied with a kind of hollow barking, 

 not unlike a dog, and sometimes a sudden kind of snorting, 

 as if the breath was retained a considerable time, and then 

 suddenly expelled. The female generally conquered. They 

 frequently sat on their hind parts, and used their fore paws to 

 convey food to their mouths. The muscles of their jaws were 

 very strong, as they cracked the largest bones with ease asunder; 

 and many of their actions, as well as their gait, strikingly re- 

 sembled those of the bear. 



vol. ix. 2 a The 



