78 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



hairs longer than the white, have been taken in south-west- 

 ern Louisiana and may prove to be the Texas opossum 

 (D.m. texensis) or an undescribed form. 



The French-speaking trappers call this fur animal, aside 

 from opossum and 'possum in common usage, rat de bois, 

 meaning "rat of the woods," perpetuating the name given 

 this animal by the puzzled first settlers to Louisiana. The 

 Spanish-speaking trappers of the Delacroix Island region 

 of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes term the opossum 

 a topo or raibua. 



Naturally, this queer animal was well known to all Gulf 

 tribes, but we have been unsuccessful in locating all of its 

 names. The Ofo Indians named it feska tci-nki, "little pig;" 

 while the Biloxi called it kcicka, "hog," and the Choctaws 

 called the animal shukata. It is recorded that the eastern 

 Indians called this animal ivhoapink, meaning "white face," 

 and that it was even a more common name among the ab- 

 originals than opossum. 



Placed by naturalists in the lowest position in the order 

 of mammals the opossum, for this reason, is usually named 

 and described first in any systematic work on natural 

 history. 



Being physically such an oddity of nature, it might be 

 well to describe the animal before considering some of its 

 habits or how it appeared to the early Louisianians. 



As was pointed out by Captain John Smith, opossums 

 are small mammals varying from the size of a very large 

 cat to larger proportions. Opossums have long noses, ears 

 and tail, the latter being naked and prehensile — which 

 means that the animal can grasp things with its tail. 



The first toe on the hind foot is so fully opposable to the 

 other digits or toes, so as to constitute a functionally per- 

 fect "hand." Therefore, one does not exaggerate when this 

 queer creature of our woods is described as "four-handed." 

 This opposable first toe is without nail or claw, but the tip 

 of the toe is expanded into a broad, flat pad, of great use 

 to each hind foot when the animal is climbing about among 

 the trees — these two "hind-hands" making it sure-footed. 



