VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM. 473 



The Opossums were long supposed to be pe- 

 culiar to America; but later discoveries have 

 evinced that several species, unknown to Ame- 

 rica, exist in other parts of the globe. It is ne- 

 cessary to observe, that a degree of confusion still 

 prevails among authors, relative to the synonyms 

 of the different species. 



VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM. 



Didelphis Virginiana. D. subcinereo-jlavescens, cauda unda, au+ 



riculis rotundatls nudis nigris, margine albis. 

 Yellowish-grey naked- tailed Opossum, with black, naked, 



rounded ears edged with white. 

 D. Marsupialis? Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 71. 

 D. Opossum? Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmel.p. 105. 

 Opossum. Phil. Trans, abr. 2. p. 884. pi. 13. 

 Virginian Opossum. Museum Leverianum, vol. I. p. 24. pi. 6. 



THIS, which seems to have been the species 

 first discovered in America, is not much inferior 

 in size to a Cat, but is of a thicker form, owing 

 to the length and upright growth of the fur. 

 The general measure seems to be about one foot 

 four 'inches from the nose to the tail, which is 

 commonly about a foot or thirteen inches long*, 

 It is an animal of an inelegant aspect; having a 

 long, sharpened face, and very wide mouth. 



* Mr. Pennant, in his last edition of the History of Quadrupeds, 

 says, about twenty inches from the tip of the nose to the base of 

 the tail : of the tail thirteen inches. 



V. I. P. II; 81 



