A Good Habit Gone Wrong 



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relics of the early stages of zoology. More than 

 two hundred years elapsed before the matter 

 was understood aright, so far as can be learned ; 

 and then it was the study of our little old 

 opossum, and not of the numerous and diver- 

 sified marsupials of Australia, which solved the 

 puzzle. 



Another, and perhaps more lasting distinc- 

 tion, is that of adding a phrase to the language, 

 " playing 'possum." It needs no definition. 

 Everybody understands the nature of the ruse 

 signified, yet not all know the circumstances 

 under which it is practiced; and so far as I 

 know no one has asked, not to speak of answer- 

 ing, the question how the little beast acquired 

 the idea, or habit, or whatever it is that causes 

 him to " go dead," why he plays 'possum. 



In the first place it appears that the animal 

 remains wide-awake and fights as briskly as 

 any other on many occasions, so that the use 

 of the ruse is by no means invariable. A 

 mother with half -grown young, for example, 

 will sit up on her haunches and face an enemy 

 with gleaming eyes and teeth, without a thought 



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