DIDELPHYS CALIFORNICA. 87 



CALIFORNIAN OPOSSUM. 



Dldelphys Californica. 



Didelphys Californica, Bennett. Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society of London for March 1833, p. 40. 



Tlescription. — Length of head and body 17 inches; 

 from tip of muzzle to base of ear, 3 inches ] 1 hnes ; 

 tail, 14 inches; fore foot, 1 inch 8 lines; tarsus, 2 

 inches 1 line ; ear, 1 inch 5 lines. Prevailing colour 

 of the fur brown, the ordinary fur, which is somewhat 

 woolly, being of a dirty white colour next the skin 

 and blackish-brown externally ; long white hairs are 

 thickly interspersed, with the ordinary fur on the 

 upper parts and sides of the body, and on the back 

 part of the head : the limbs and feet are of a brown- 

 ish black colour : the head is brown ; a deep brown 

 mark commences considerably in front of the eye, 

 and extends backwards to the ear, the space below 

 this mark extending backwards from near the tip of 

 the muzzle on to the cheeks, is white: the chin, lower 

 portion of the cheeks, and the whole of the under parts 

 of the body are brown ; the hairs on those parts, how- 

 ever, are for the most part whitish at the base ; the 

 ears are black : a very small portion of the tail is 

 covered with fur like that of the body, beyond this 

 the tail is, as usual, covered with scales and short 

 interspersed hairs, towards the base they are of a 

 black colour, but nearly the whole of the scaly por- 

 tion of the tail appears to have been white ; the head 

 is very long ; the hairs of the moustaches are most of 



