209 



CHAPTEE XL 



THE VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM. 



DIDELPHYS VIBGINIANA. 



Characteristics. — Head long, conical ; miizzle pointed ; 

 ears large, almost naked ; tail long, scaly ; the female fur- 

 nished with a pouch containing thirteen mamma, arranged in 

 a circle, with one in the centre. 



Description. — Body stout and clumsy ; mouth wide ; mous- 

 taches on sides of the face, and a few over the eyes, which are 

 high up in the forehead. Nails of moderate length and 

 curved. Inner toe on hind feet without nails, and opposable 

 to others, so as to form a hand. The for is of two kinds ; a 

 soft woolly hair next the skin, with an outer coat of longer hairs, 

 which are not long enough to conceal the under covering. 



Colour. — Face near the snout pure white ; ears blue. Hair 

 on upper portion of the body is white at the base and black 

 at the tips ; the long hairs are mostly Avhite ; a line of dark 

 brown beginning on the forehead widens towards the shoulders. 

 The feet are brownish black, sometimes of a dark red tinge ; 

 the tail is brown. 



Dimensions. — From point of nose to root of. tail sixteen 

 inches ; tail twelve inches. 



Weight. — Averages twelve j)ounds. 



~VrOT only are deer ' fire-hunted ' with an old frying- 



■^^ pan filled with pitch-pine knots, but there are 



several small animals which, being nocturnal in their 



p 



