DIDELPHYS CINEREA. 103 



portion; on the other hand I observed a specimen at 

 Paris^ in which the tail was almost totally brown, 

 having only a few white spots; this specimen did not 

 differ otherwise from another in which the tail is 

 coloured as mentioned in the foregoing description. 

 In the females the fur is of an ashy-fawn colour, and 

 the region of the pouch is furnished with rusty-red 

 hairs. They are always much larger than the males. 

 Inhabits Surinam and Guyana. 



CINEREOUS OPOSSUM, 



Dldelphys cinerea. 

 Didelphys cinerea, Temminck. 



Description, — Size of the Black-Rat (Mus rattus;) 

 head small ; muzzle very short ; tail very slender, 

 much longer than the head and body taken together; 

 the fur is thick but short and of a cotton-like texture. 

 The males are of an ashy-grey colour, the extreme 

 points of the hairs on the upper parts of the body are 

 blackish ; the under parts of the body and inner side 

 of the limbs are whitish, the throat and chest are 

 slightly tinted with rust colour ; the fur on the upper 

 surface of the head is of the same tint as that of the 

 back, there is no central black stripe ; the eye is 

 encircled with black ; the tail is covered at the base 

 with fur like that of the body, the remaining portion 

 is perfectly destitute of hairs ; the basal half is of 

 a brown colour, and the remaining portion is white. 



In the females the fur is somewhat tinted with 



