MAMMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. 9 



Rhoads. Catch one in 5 or 6 years in bottom land ; also caught one in bear 

 trap on top of mountain (1800 ft.) near Round Island. Nelson, 1896. 



Columbia Co. More plenty last four years (1896 to 1900) ; once very 

 rare at Fishing Creek. Buckalew. 



Erie Co. "A skull was picked up on the peninsula at Erie, spring of 

 1900." Todd. 



Lycoming Co. Coming in rarely at Eaglesmere in last six years (1890-96). 

 Bennett. 



Monroe and Pike Cos. Rare on Pocono plateau, coming up to 1500 feet. 

 Specimens taken at Porter's Lake. Less rare at Dingman's Ferry. Rhoads, 

 1895. 



Somerset Co. " Becoming numerous near New Lexington in the last few 

 years. I killed one on my hen roost two months ago (Nov., 1900). Ten or 

 fifteen years ago none here." Moore. 



Sullivan Co., Lopez. They reach the top of our mountains. I saw the 

 trail of one in a new fall of snow in January, 1901, near our camp. We 

 caught one in (March?) 1901 near Lopez. Behr. 



Tioga Co. Several caught in 1898 in vicinity of Canton. Cleveland. 



Union Co. Increasing at Mifflinburg. Chambers, 1901. 



Wyoming Co. G. F. Smith records one in 1896 as a very rare occurrence. 

 Warren. 



Records in N. J. (extralimital only given). The opossum probably was 

 never absent from any part of New Jersey as it once was in the more 

 boreal parts of Pennsylvania. Rhoads. 



Bergen Co. Found sparingly along the Palisades. Rhoads, 1902. 



Hudson Co. Audubon states (Quad. N. Amer., Vol. 2, p. 124) opossums 

 were sometimes found within five or ten miles of New York City in New 

 Jersey. 



Passaic Co. Two were captured in 1895 and 1806 by hunters near 

 Greenwood Lake ; considered rare at that place. Occasional on the Bearfoot 

 Mountains (700 to 1400 feet). Rhoads, fide Leonard Wright. 



Habits, etc. Spending the day in hollow trees, logs, deserted burrows, 

 drains, sewers, rail and brush piles, ricks and outbuildings ; prowling at night 

 for fruit, nuts, mammals, eggs, birds, reptiles, mollusks, insects and Crustacea. 

 In extremity a cannibal and eater of carrion. Owing its urban existence to 

 non-resistance, fecundity, omnivorous diet and a prehensile tail. Producing 

 sometimes as many as sixteen young, which at birth are three-fourths inch 

 long, naked and with rudimentary hind limbs ; each securely attached to a 

 teat within the abdominal pouch, from which they emerge when of the size 

 of small rats and cling by tail and feet to the body of the parent. Stated to 

 have three litters in a year. Its habit of eating wild birds, their eggs and 

 young, and its fondness for poultry offset in some degree its usefulness as a 



