THE OPOSSOM. 163 



its value. We are indeed informed, that an ingenious gentleman 

 of Newcastle, has discovered a method whereby the exquisitely 

 fine fur of this hitherto despised animal, may possibly become of 

 great importance to the public. Being incorporated with other 

 materials, it forms a stamen of peculiar strength and beauty for 

 the purpose of making hats, superior to any hitherto used in that 

 valuable branch of manufacture. Mr. Bewick adds, that the 

 gentleman has obtained a patent for this useful discovery. 



The colour of the mole is generally black, but some have been 

 found with white spots, and others perfectly white. Its fur is 

 very short, close set, softer than the finest velvet, or perhaps than 

 the fur of any other animal ; and, although it lives in the earth, 

 it is always exceedingly clean and glossy. It is somewhat singu- 

 lar, that while the ermine and sable are sought in the recesses 

 of their immense solitudes, in the rigorous climates and desolate 

 regions of the earth, no use has been made of a fur, which in 

 beauty is scarcely inferior to any that Siberia can furnish. 



This animal is exceedingly prolific : it breeds under ground, 

 where it form a commodious nest of moss or fine herbage. It 

 makes its subterraneous tracks in various directions, and throws 

 up here and there large heaps of mould, which are very pre- 

 judicial, and consequently render its destruction an object of 

 attention to the farmer. 



The desolation which these animals create in gardens and 

 cultivated grounds, is indeed much greater than the generality 

 of people would suppose possible. M. de Buffon informs us? 

 that in the year 1740, he planted about sixteen acres of land 

 with acorns, of which the quarter part was carried off by the 

 moles ; and in many of their subterraneous retreats, were found 

 half a bushel, and in some a bushel. After discovering this cir- 

 cumstance, our author caused a number of iron traps to be con- 

 structed, by which he caught about thirteen hundred moles in 

 less than three weeks. 



Nature, which in every part of the animal creation, displays 

 her diversifying energy, has formed several varieties of this ani- 

 mal. One species, found in Siberia, is of a beautiful green and 

 gold colour, which varies with the light. The yellow mole of 

 North America is larger than that of Europe, and, like the latter, 

 is covered with a fur exquisitely fine, soft, and glossy ; and an- 

 other kind is found in Virginia, of a black colour, variegated 

 with purple. 



THE OPOSSUM 



Is an animal of which Nature has formed several varieties ; 

 but all of them distinguished from every other quadruped, except 

 the kangaroo, by having a pouch under the belly, in which the 



