FAMILY. 



DIDELPHIDAE. 



Incisor teeth ^-j, canines y^, premolars ^- 3 -, molars ^^; feet five-toed, plantigrade ; coccum moderate. 



The opossums are peculiarly American animals, the various forms occurring over a great 

 extent of both !North and South America. They are usually of small size, the largest scarcely 

 exceeding a cat in bulk, the smallest a little larger than a mouse. Their food consists chiefly 

 of insects, small reptiles, and birds, with their eggs. 



Some of the species have only a very rudimentary pouch, the mammae in which are very 

 numerous, varying from nine to thirteen. All the Didelphidae may be readily distinguished 

 from other mammals by the great number of incisors in the jaws (v)- 



The tail is generally very, long, nearly naked, and covered by a scaly skin, with a few scat 

 tered hairs ; as in many other Marsupiata, it is prehensile. The feet are naked beneath, five- 

 toed, all the toes furnished with moderate claws, except the inner one of the hind foot, which 

 has no claw. 



