476 



POUCHED QUADllUPEDS. 



The Opossums (Bideliohis*) have in all fifty teeth ; their 

 tongue is rough and bristly, their . tail prehensile, and 

 partly naked. The thumb of the hinder foot is long, and 

 considerably separated from the other toes. Their mouth, 

 which opens far back, and their large, naked ears, give 

 them a peculiar physiognomy. They are fetid and 

 nocturnal animals, very slow in their movements; they 

 lodge in trees, and there pursue birds and insects, but they 

 do not reject fruits. About thirty species have been 

 described. 



The Virginian Opossum (Didel^jhis Virgimanus) was the earliest 

 known of the Marsupialia, and is one of the largest of tlie family. 



&§. 



Fig. 402. — VIRGINIAN opossum. 



It is about the size of a cat, covered with grey fur, thick and soft, 

 but of no value ; lives on trees throughout the whole United States, 

 and is proverbial for its singular habit of counterfeiting death when 

 alarmed. Another species, found in South America, called the 

 Mouse Opossum (D. ilfjmwrt) (Fig. 403), has the Marsupial pouch 

 imperfectly developed, to compensate for which the parent carries 

 her young upon her back, where tliey better maintain their position, 

 amidst tlie climbing and leaping movements of tlie mother, by 

 twining their long, slender, and preliensile tails around hers. 



Tlie Dasyuri (Dasywms t ) have the tail covered with long hairs, 

 and not prehensile. They inhabit New Holland, and live on insects 



* Sio-, dis, double ; SeX^ws, delphys, a ivomh. 

 t Saavs, dasys, hairy; ovpa, oura, a tail. 



