250 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 



soon satisfied, and it early and slowly carries its 

 fat and heavy body to its quiet home, to spend 

 the remainder of the night and the succeeding 

 day in the enjoyment of a quiet rest and sleep. 



The whole structure of the opossum is lul- 

 mirahly adapted to the wants of a sluggish 

 animal. It possesses strong powers of smell, 

 which aid it in its search after food ; its mouth 

 is capacious, and its jaws possessing a greater 

 number and variety of teeth than any other of 

 our animals, evidencing its omnivorous habits ; 

 its fore-paws, although not armed with retractile 

 claws, aid in seizing its prey and conveying it to 

 the mouth. The construction of the hind- foot 

 with its soft yielding tubercles on the palms and 

 its long nailless opposing thumb, enable it to use 

 these feet as hands, and the prehensile tail aids it 

 in holding on to the limbs of trees whilst its 

 body is swinging in the air ; in this manoer we 

 have observed it gathering persimmons with its 

 mouth and fore-paws, and devouring them whilst 

 its head was downwards and its body suspended 

 in the air, holding on sometimes with its hind- 

 feet and tail, but often by the tail alone. 



We have observed in this species a habit 

 which is not uncommon among a few other 

 species of quadrupeds, as we have seen it in the 

 raccoon and occasionally in the common house 

 dog — that of lying on its back for hours in the 



