The Fur Animals of Louisiana 



83 



The opossum is polysestrus, having more than one 

 oestrus or heat period during a given breeding season. The 

 breeding season begins in January in our section of the 

 South and the females usually have young in the pouch by 

 the middle of February. 



The period of gestation averages 11 days, the young 

 remaining attached to the teats for approximately 65 to 

 70 days, and then for 30 days move freely about the mother, 

 entering the pouch for food, or, when alarmed, for pro- 

 tection. Hartman fixes the longevity of the opossum at 

 seven years. 1 



JZafi ch- Bout 



The Rat de Bois of the early French settlers to Louisiana was none other 

 than our opossum and this is the way that the illustrator for Le Page du Pratz 

 claimed it looked in 1735. 



Le Page du Pratz, the earliest Louisiana historian, 

 wrote a very entertaining account of the opossum, which 

 he called the Rat de bois, the name applied to this animal 

 by the early French settlers, du Pratz's account of this 

 "rat of the woods" is here reproduced merely to show the 

 manner of natural history writings of 1730, and, therefore, 

 some of the habits attributed to this animal must not be 

 taken seriously by the present reader. 



His engraving of the rat de bois, which is herewith re- 

 produced, is quite as amusing as his account which, trans- 

 lated, follows: 



"The 'rat de bois' ' head and tail is like a rat's He 

 is as big and long as an ordinary cat. His legs are 



^■Hartman, Breeding Habits, Development and Birth of the Opposum, 

 Smithsonian Institute Annual Report, 1921, pp. 347-363. 



