MONKEY KIND. 33 



by having no tail. In other respects it resembles 

 those of the maki kind, as well in its hands and 

 feet, as in its snout, and in the glossy qualities of 

 its hair. It is about the size of a squirrel, and 

 appears to be a tame, harmless, little animal. 



OF THE OPOSSUM, AND ITS KINDS. 



To these four-handed animals of the ancient 

 continent, we may add the four-handed animals 

 of the new, that use their hands like the former, 

 as well as their tails, and that fill up the chasm 

 between the monkey tribe and the lower orders 

 of the forest. As the maki kind in some mea- 

 sure seem to unite the fox and the monkey in 

 their figure and size, so these seem to unite the 

 monkey and the rat. They are all less than the 

 former; they have long tails, almost bare of hair; 

 and their fur, as well as their shape, seems to 

 place them near the rat kind. Some have ac- 

 cordingly ranked them in that class ; but their 

 being four-handed is a sufficient reason for plac- 

 ing them in the rear of the monkeys. 



The first and the most remarkable of this tribe 

 is the Opossum,* an animal found both in North 

 and South America, of the size of a small cat. 

 The head resembles that of a fox ; it has fifty 



[* This animal has ten fore-teeth in the upper jaw, and eight in the 

 under one ; the dog-teeth are long ; the tongue is somewhat ciliated ; and 

 they have a pouch formed by a duplicature of the skin of the belly, in 

 which the teats are concealed, and their young secured.] 



