THE MUSEUM. 



185 



one branch to another some distance 

 away, on which they will safely land. 



Now as to the amount of a litter of 

 young, I wish to state that I am not 

 positive. I do know that they will 

 have 6 or 8, but I have been told by 

 southern parties that oii{:;ht to know, 

 that they have as high as i 5 at a time. 

 But this I care not to say as a fact, 

 but can say 8, as I have often found 

 that many in a nest. 



The nest is generally in a hollow 

 tree, well lined with grass. They also 

 build in fallen trees and under old 

 stumps, holes in banks and any dry 

 place. 



When born they are not covered 

 with hair, but while in the pounch it 

 begins to grow and they open their 

 eyes after 40 or 50 days. This I (juote 

 from others and ask some of the read- 

 ers if they can throw any more certain 

 light on it. I hardly think this cor- 

 rect, but have not had a chance to 

 verify it, so leave it for somebody that 

 has had an opportunity. 



Last summer I secured a pair of 

 Opossum and intended to place them 

 in a suitable inclosure so as to study 

 this matter, but the Opossums thought 

 better of it and departed in the night. 

 Whether they both got safely away or 

 not our MoUie, a black bear, could 

 say, as they had to pass through her 

 pen to do so, and she is a very inquis- 

 itive bear. But the boys say that they 

 have seen young Opossums no bigger 

 than small rats around the old lumber 

 stored under one of the barns, so I 

 imagine the female escaped and had a 

 litter. Tracks of Opossums have been 

 seen in the mud in a thick woods near 

 here, so I imagine that they are still 

 living. 



Charles Newell, 

 West Newbury, Mass. 



William D. Hartman, M, D. 



The October number of the Nau- 

 tilus contains a notice of the death of 

 Dr. Wm D. Hartman, and believing 

 him to be one of our most prominent 



students of Conchology, we reprint 

 here portions of said notice. 



Dr. Hartman whose death occurred 

 on August 1 6th last, at West Chester, 

 Pa. , was born in East Pikeland Town- 

 ship, West Chester, Pa., Dec. 24, 

 1817. He was the eldest son of Hon. 

 George Hartman. The founder of the 

 family in Chester Co. was his great- 

 great-grandfather, John Hartman, a 

 native of Schwerin, Htsse Casse, Ger- 

 many, who came to Philadelphia in 



1753- 



After receiving an education in the 

 schools of the neighborhood, Wm. 

 Hartman entered the famous school 

 of Jonathan Gause and the academy of 

 Jonathan Strode. He studied medi- 

 cine and about this time became 

 greatly interested in the study of Bot- 

 any. He attended the University of 

 Pennsylvania and graduated from the 

 Medical Department in 1839, at the 

 age of 2 1 years. After graduation he 

 returned to West Chester and engaged 

 in the practice of his profession. 



Dr. Hartman devoted all the time 

 that he could spare from his medical 

 practice to the study of Natural Sci- 

 ence, a Besides botany he studied en- 

 tomology, mineralogy and conchology, 

 and became an authority in each of 

 these branches, especially as they re- 

 lated to Chester county. The latter 

 science, however, finally engrossed his 

 attention, and it is by his work on 

 Mollusca that he became most widely 

 known. For over forty years he cor- 

 responded upon conchological topics 

 with the leading authorities in the 

 science in this country and abroad. 

 Among his correspondents and co-lab- 

 orers were Isaac Lea, L. L. D., of 

 Philadelphia, Charles Wheatley of 

 Phoenixville, Geo. W. Tryon, Jr., J. 

 G. Anthony, Dr. J. C. Cox, Andrew 

 Garrett, \\'. H. Pease, E. L. Layard 

 and others. 



Through Mr. Garrett he obtained 

 what is perhaps one of the finest col- 

 lections of Polynesian land shells in 

 the world, especially of the genus Par- 

 tula, of which he described 25 species. 



