THE VIRGINIA OPOSSUM 



PHOTOGRAPHS OF TWO NEW VARIETIES AND THE TWO NORMAL 



PHASES OF THIS ANIMAL> 



Carl Hartman 

 University of Texas, Austin 



THE published descriptions of Didel- 

 phys virginiana concern them- 

 selves almost exclusively with the 

 gray phase shown in Fig. 18 (E and F) 

 in the photographs on the following 

 page. This is the common Virginia 

 opossum. The animal appears gray 

 because the long overhair is white, the 

 soft dense underfur being tipped with 

 black. 



Now and then, however, one meets 

 in the literature a casual reference to 

 black individuals such as C and D, in 

 Fig 18. This phase has not received 

 the attention it deserves, for it occurs 

 throughout the range of the Virginia 

 opossum. The National Museum con- 

 tains numerous black hides; and the 

 writer receives from the Austin region 

 one black to about ten grays. In the 

 black phase the overhair is black, not 

 white, although a few scattered white 

 hairs may be present. 



The two phases appear to the writer 

 to be genetically distinct, that is dis- 

 continuous varieties, for no gradations 

 between the two have been seen among 

 a thousand animals examined. 



In Fig. 18 are also shown two albi- 

 notic females received from Kenneth 

 Nevins, Sulphur, Oklahoma. This 

 variety seems to be new, at least the 

 writer is unaware of any existing descrip- 

 tion of it, although he has heard numer- 

 ous reports of the occurrence of white 

 opossums in this section of the state. 

 Three or four years ago the writer came 

 into possession of just such an individ- 

 ual, also a female, a photograph of which 

 is included among the illustrations fur- 

 nished by the writer for the 1921 report 

 of the Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. 



The albinos here shown have all 

 white hair — there is not a single black 



hair on their bodies. The iris is some- 

 what lighter than the dark iris of the 

 normal animal, but the eye as a whole 

 appears black, not pink. The skin is 

 black, however, in the usual pigmented 

 areas: feet, ears, base of tail, and the 

 streak between tail and cloacal orifice. 



The second variety figured is true 

 brown or "cinnamon." Three individ- 

 uals are shown, one male (I, Fig. 19) 

 and two females (G and H). These 

 animals were presented by Dr. Chas. 

 McNeil of Sedalia, Missouri, where 

 the variety is said to be not uncommon. 

 Here again the white overhair is either 

 present all over the body, as in G and I, 

 or absent, as in H. This last men- 

 tioned female possesses no white over- 

 hair; the fur is a uniform and delicate 

 light brown. The specimen ought to 

 produce a commercially valuable strain. 



In all of the cinnamon specimens the 

 ears and iris are also brown. This 

 variety has been reported to the 

 Journal of Mammalogy. 



The specimens here presented would 

 appear to make excellent genetic mate- 

 rial and the appropriate crosses have 

 been planned. Five types are shown, 

 viz.: 



1. Gray: black pigment in underfur, 



no pigment in overhair. 



2. Black: black pigment in both 

 kinds of hair. 



3. Cinnamon, with brown pigment 

 in underfur, no pigment in over- 

 hair. 



4. Cinnamon, with brown pigment in 

 both kinds of hair. 



5. White: no pigment in either kind 



of hair. 

 Three pairs of factors seem to be in- 

 volved, (1) black versus brown, (2) 

 pigmented overhair versus white over- 

 hair, (3) hair color versus white hair- 



Contributions from the Zoological Laboratory, the University of Texas, No. 157. 



471 



