﻿2o6 Allen's naturalist's library. 



ring ; elsewhere naked, with ahnost imperceptible scales ; in 

 colour, the base grey and the tip white, the two colours forming 

 a series of mottlings at their junction. Length of head and body 

 of male about lo inches; of tail 12^ inches. Females larger. 

 Distrilbiition. — North-eastern South America, e.g., Guiana and 

 Brazil. 



VI. woolly opossum, didelphys lanigera. 



Didelphys lanigera., Desmarest, Mamm., vol. i., p. 258 (1820); 



Thomas, Cat. Marsup. Brit. Mus., p. 339 (1888). 

 Didelphys derbiana, Waterhouse, Jardine's Nat. Library, Mamm., 



vol. xi., p. 97 (1841). 

 Didelphys och^opus, Wagner, Archiv. fiir Nat., vol. viii., p. 359 



(1842). 

 Didelphys ornata, Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, Mamm., p. 146 



(1844). 



{Plate XXXIV.) 



Characters. — Size rather larger than in the preceding species ; 

 fur thick, soft, and even more woolly than in the latter. 

 General colour varying from rich dark rufous to pale bright 

 fawn, more or less variegated with white ; face greyish-white, 

 with the dark stripe generally conspicuous, but ill-defined in 

 some of the paler examples ; a reddish area round the eyes ; 

 under-parts greyish-white, more or less tinged with rufous ; 

 middle of front portion of back with a conspicuous greyish or 

 greyish-white stripe, sometimes extending backwards to the 

 tail, and in other cases absent ; sides of neck and back bright 

 red ; limbs grey or pale rufous. Tail very long, furry at the 

 basal end for from one-half to one-third of its length on the upper 

 surface, while inferiorly the hair stops an inch or more short of 

 the point which it reaches superiorly, the termination of the 

 furry portion thus forming an oblique line on the sides ; naked 

 portion grey basally and yellow terminally, with a mottling of 



