108 MAMMALIA. MARSUPIALIA. 



wanting, sometimes very distinct, without nail, opposable to 

 the other toes ; scrotum of the males before the organ of 

 generation. 



The general character of this Order is the marsupial pouch in the ahdomen of the 

 female, in which the imperfect germs of the young are deposited till their further 

 developement. In this pouch the mammae also are placed. Linnaeus arranged all 

 the species which he knew under one genus, Didctyhis, and their general resem- 

 blance afforded sufficient grounds for this arrangement. But on the discovery and 

 examination of new species from Australasia, it was found that no common character 

 could be formed from their teeth, feet, and organs of digestion, and that the differ- 

 ences in structure of these made it impossible to include them in anj^ of the exist- 

 ing Orders. The presence of the abdominal pouch, therefore, and marsupial bones in 

 both sexes, separating them from all the other quadrupeds, Cuvier arranged these 

 singular animals in a separate family of his Carnassicrs, but suggested their forming 

 the type of a larger division ; and we have accordingly followed Latreille in arrang- 

 ing the species as a separate Order. 4 



Gen. 81. DIDELPHIS, Lin. Cuv. Geoff. Desm. 



Incisors y*, canines J |, molars ?-?, or f-?, = 50 or 48. Two 

 superior intermediate incisors larger than the others ; lower 

 incisors equal ; canines strong, compressed ; molars, the three 

 first in the upper jaw triangular ; the others crowned with 

 points ; head long and conical, muzzle pointed, mouth much 

 cleft ; ears large, rounded, almost naked ; five toes on all the 

 feet, nails long and bent ; hind feet plantigrade, with the 

 thumbs opposable, but destitute of nails; tail long, scaly, most- 

 ly deprived of hair. 



* Females with an abdominal pouch. 



D. Virginiana, Desm. Gmel. Virginian Opossum, Shaw. Fur 

 woolly, fine, mixed black and white, with white lines ; head near- 

 ly white ; size of a rabbit. America. Shaw, i. pi. 107- 



D. Azarce, Tern. Fur of two sorts, one cottony underneath, and 

 black at the tip ; the other rigid and white ; black round the 

 eyes ; the legs black ; half of the tail hairy, the rest scaly. South 

 America. Tern. Monog. Mam. p. 30. 



D. cancrivora, Lin. Desm. The Crab-eating Opossum. Fur yel- 

 lowish, mixed with brown ; forehead brown. Surinam. Stiff'. 

 Sup. vi. pi. 54. 



D. Quica, Tern. Fur above blackish yellow ; upper part of the 

 head blackish, with three white bands ; cliin white ; belly red- 

 dish. Size of a polecat. Brazil, Tern. Mam. p. 36. 



D. Opossum, Lin. Fur fawn-coloured above, whitish below ; a 

 pale white spot above each eye ; tail partly hairy. S. America. 

 Shaw, i. pi. 108. 



D. Philander, Schreb. Fur spotted with brown ; head very short, 

 muzzle blunt ; head with a red central longitudinal band ; eyes 

 placed in a gray spot ; tail naked. Schreb. vii, t. 147- 



4 



