DOES THE OPUSSUM PLAY " 'POSSUM " f 91 



against disturbance by a low, hissing sound, but did not 

 uncoil its body. 



If the animal, at this time, realized that it was a pris- 

 oner, it certainly did not fear death, for it made no effort 

 to escape, which the fear of death would cause it to do, 

 since it was in no way disabled. After waiting an hour, 

 and seeing no sign of feigning unconsciousness, but, 

 instead of it, a most provoking indifference, I walked off 

 some distance to a point where I could see the trap, but 

 was myself hidden from the opossum. Fully ten minutes 

 elapsed before I saw any movement on the part of the 

 animal, and then it was a very gradual uncoiling of the 

 body, a protracted yawn, a stretching of the limbs, and 

 then standing up, he looked about and very deliberately 

 walked off. I ran toward him, when he quickened his 

 pace, but was soon overtaken. On seizing him by the 

 tail, he crouched down, partially coiled his body, and 

 spread his jaws to the utmost. When I threatened vio- 

 lent blows about his head (although careful not to strike 

 him), the animal's head slowly sank down, and the eyes 

 closed, but this was not a feigned act. The breathing was 

 affected but not suppressed, the surface temperature of 

 the body was lowered, I judged, and it was, as I believe, a 

 faint, and not a feint ; a temporary paralysis of the whole 

 body through fear, and for the time being absolute un- 

 consciousness. Furthermore, as in fainting, the applica- 

 tion of cold water had the effect of restoring the animal 

 to consciousness. I have made scores of experiments of 

 this kind, in some instances actually striking them, when 

 the fainting through fear was more sudden ; and in no 

 experiment have I seen anything to suggest intentional 

 feigning of death. 



The late Dr. Lincecum, in a sketch of the habits of 

 the opossum, as observed by him in the Southern States 



