Opossums. 87 



extending from the middle of the boat thirty feet beyond 

 the stern. They both got upon it, were taken up, and 

 afterwards let loose in their native woods. 



" In the year 1829, I was in a portion of Lower Loui- 

 siana, where the opossum abounds at all seasons, and 

 having been asked by the President and Secretary of the 

 Zoological Gardens and Society of London to forward 

 live animals of this species to them, I offered a price & 

 little above the common, and soon found myself plenti- 

 fully supplied, twenty-five having been brought to me. 

 I found them extremely voracious, and not less cowardly. 

 They were put into a large box, with a great quantity oi 

 food, and conveyed to a steamer bound to New Orleans. 

 Two days afterwards I went to the city to see about 

 sending them off to Europe ; but to my surprise I found 

 that the old males had destroyed the younger ones, and 

 eaten off their heads, and that only sixteen remained 

 alive. A separate box was purchased for each, and the 

 cannibals were safely forwarded to their destination." 



