482 



CAYENNE OPOSSUM. 



Didelphis Cancrivora. D. caitda squamosa fere calva corpus 

 prope cequante, plantarum ungue pollicari piano. Lin. Syst, 

 Nat. Gmelp. 108. 



O. with nearly naked scaly tail almost the length of the body, 

 and the nail of the thumbs flat. 



Crabier. Buff, suppl. 3. p. 272. pi. 54. 



THIS species was first described by the Count 

 de Buffon. It is a native of Cayenne, and is said 

 to be a very active animal, living on trees by day, 

 and by night descending into marshy places in 

 order to prey on crabs, which it draws out of 

 their holes by its feet, and sometimes by its tail. 

 Its colour above is a reddish tawny, and below 

 yellowish : the fur is somewhat woolly, but beset 

 with much coarser or more bristly external hairs, 

 especially along the back, where they almost form 

 a kind of dusky mane : the fore feet have nails, 

 the hind feet claws, except the thumbs or interior 

 toes, which have nails : the face is long and slen- 

 der; the ears upright, short, and pointed: the 

 tail very long, taper, and naked. The length of 

 that described by Buffon (which was but young) 

 was seventeen inches, and of the tail fifteen. 



