THE OPOSSUM 



37 



flesh-coloured nose, and generally white head and more 

 or less black ears. The tail is about as long as the body, 

 clothed with fur for nearly a quarter of its length, the 

 rest being naked and covered with scales like the tail of 



FIG. 9. 



' 



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THE VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM. 



a rat. But, unlike the tail of a rat, it is prehensile, thus 

 resembling the tails of various American monkeys. 



The body is clothed with long, loose, rather soft hairs 

 some white, some black, some parti-coloured. Beneath 

 the hinder part of the body there is, in the female, a 



