﻿2 02 ALLEN S NATURALISTS LIBRARY. 



ceding species. Muzzle with one pair of lateral notches in the 

 lip ; ears very large, broad, rounded, naked, transparent, and 

 of a uniform slaty-grey colour. Pouch rudimentary or wanting. 

 Nine teats. Front of limbs, inner side of lower part of hind 

 legs, and feet pale brown. Feet longer and narrower than in 

 the last, with their pads very distinctly defined, and those of 

 the first toe in each foot generally undivided ; the outermost 

 hind toe scarcely reaching to the middle of the second joint of 

 the fourth. Tail of great length, with its basal inch alone 

 haired, elsewhere naked, save for a few short hairs between the 

 scales, and its gener;d brown colour changing to white at the 

 tip. Length of head and body about 9^ inches ; of tail 11^ 

 inches. 



Distribution. — Costa Rica to Brazil. 



The distinctive features of this species, which is very abun- 

 dant in Brazil, and especially at Bahia, are the small spots above 

 the eyes, coupled with the great length of the tail and the 

 shortness of its furred portion. The absence of a pouch in a 

 species otherwise so closely allied to D. opossum is very remark- 

 able, indicating differences in the habits of the young, and also 

 showing that the present is the more specialised form of the 

 two. 



IV. THICK-TAILED OPOSSUM. DIDELPHYS CRASSICAUDATA. 



Didelphys crassicaudata, Desmarest, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist., vol. 



xxiv., table, p. 19 (1804) ; Thomas, Cat. Marsup. Brit. 



Mus, p. 334 (1888). 

 Didelphis macroura, IHiger. Abhandl. Akad. Berlin, 1811^ 



p. 107. 

 Metachirus crassicaudatus, Hensel, Abhandl. Akad. Berlin, 



1872, p. 121. 

 Didelpliys tumeric Giinther, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. 



iv., p. 108 (1879). 



