CLASS MAMMALIA 



431 



until it has become sufficiently developed to move about and resume 

 its attachment when it wishes to feed. 



Fig. 321. — The Australian duckbill, Ornithorhynchus anatinus (Shaw). (Drawn from 

 Lydekker, " Wild Life of the World," vol. II.) X H- 



The marsupials were distributed ages ago over both Europe and 

 North America, but now they are confined to Australia and neighboring 



Fig. 322. — Opossum, Didelphis virginiana Kerr. Common in the United States east 

 of the Rocky Mountain region. Feeds on fruit, eggs, insects, frogs, small birds, and 

 mammals. The young are born in a very immature stage and are carried in a skin pouch 

 on the abdomen of the mother. Said to feign death when in danger, hence the term playing 

 possum. The opossums are the only present-day representatives of the Marsupialia in 

 North America. {Photographed from a specimen in the University of Nebraska State Museum.) 



islands, South America, and the southern portion of North America. 

 In Australia, where they are the only native mammals, the marsupials 



