73 Miscellanies in Natural History. 



*' If a cat, according to the proverb, has nine lives, the 

 opossum has nineteen." 



I shall now say a few words respecting the oldest ac- 

 counts and figures of this animal, which were published in 

 Europe after the discover)' of the New World. 



The first person who made mention of it, as far as I 

 know, was V. Pinzon, who accompanied Columbus on 

 his first voyatrc of discoven,'. This notice is to be found 

 in Herwag's Collection (Novus Orbis, the first edition of 

 1532, p. 121*.) 



About the end of the fifteenth century one of these ani- 

 mals was brought alive to Seville, and presented to the 

 king of Granada. 



Peter Martyr, who saw a dead specimen of this animal, 

 gave a more accurate account of the opossum, which he 

 thus describes : " Monstrosum animal, vulpino rostro, cer- 

 copitheca cauda ; vespertilioneis auribus, manibus humanis, 

 pedibus simiam semulans. See." 



The name of simiviilpa was first given to it by Gylli, in 

 his edition of ^Elian, 1553, 4to. p. 209; and this denomi- 

 nation was afterwards adopted by Gcssncr. 



The oldest figure of it v> 1th which I am acquainted, but 

 which is indeed very defective, is in the unfortunate Ser- 

 vetus's edition of Ptolemy, 1535, fob tab. 28. It is there 

 given as brought from the eastern coast of Terra Firma^ 

 with this inscription : " Rcperitur hie animal habens rescr- 

 vaculum quo suos puUos secum -portat, et cos non nisi lac- 

 tandi tempore emittit. Tale regi Hispanic Granate ob- 

 latum est." 



The first tolerable figure was given by Nierenbcrg, 

 p. 156, if we except the woolly hair and the hind feet^ 

 which are entirely misrepresented. 



The third Generation of the Foraipine Man. 



The well-known astronomer J. Machin gave in the Phi^ 

 losophical Transactions for 1732t the first account of a boy 

 of 14 years of age, afterwards called the porcupine man, 

 whose whole skin, the head, the pah'ns of thehand, and the 

 soles of the feet excepted, was covered v/ith corneous pegs, 

 which gave the body an appearance as if covered with a 

 coat of mail. He was not born with this cuticular defor- 



* VhV-, very scarce fjiiiu pr'mreps ■jetnis to be nnknnnn to modern 

 biMiofTrnphci '- best ?cq\jannc(l w tli the literature of vovajjes and travels, 

 1 i-b ainid mv copy thioiii^h il:c kindness of Sir Josej>li Banks. 



f Vol. sxxvii. p. ;,99. 



mily, 



