12 



METACHIRUS. 



11. *nudicaudatus (Didelphys), E. Geoff, Cat. Mus., Paris, 1803, p. 42. 

 RAT-TAILED OPOSSUM. 



Type locality. Cayenne, French Guiana. (Allen.) 



Geogr. Distr. Costa Rica? to Brazil. 



Genl. Char. Size about equaling M. opossum but more slender; 

 ears large, brown, rounded, naked. Skull: postorbital processes 

 barely apparent; interorbital space broad. 



Color. Above grayish brown suffused on sides with yellowish, 

 sometimes rufous; face rufous brown with a white or yellowish 

 white spot over eye; under parts yellowish white; front of arms and 

 outside of legs pale brown; indistinct yellow lateral line; tail furred 

 at base, rest naked, scaly, brown grading to white at tip; hands and 

 feet pale brown ; ears slaty gray. 



Measurements. Total length, 540; tail, 300; hind foot, 43; ear, 25. 

 Skull: basal length, 61; greatest breadth, 36; length of nasals, 30; 

 across postorbital processes, n; palatal length, 36; length of upper 

 molar series, 10.5. 



FIG IV. METACHIRUS FUSCOGRISEUS. ALLEN'S OPOSSUM. 



No. 8252 Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Coll. Type. 



12. fuscogriseus (Mctachirus), Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 



N. Y., 1900, p. 194. 



quica True, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vn, 1885, p. 587. (nee 

 Temminck.) Alston, Biol. Centr. Amer., i, 1881, p. 198. 

 (Part.) 



* Thomas. Cat. Marsupials, p. 333, gives this species from Costa Rica. 



