476 



POUCHED QUADHUPEDS. 



The Opossums (Didelphis*) have in all fifty teeth ; thei: 

 tongue is rough and bristly, their tail prehensile, anc 

 partly naked. The thumb of the hinder foot is long, anc 

 considerably separated from the other toes. Their mouth 

 which opens far back, and their large, naked ears, giv< 

 them a peculiar physiognomy. They are fetid anc 

 nocturnal animals, very slow in their movements; the;; 

 lodge in trees, and there pursue birds and insects, but the 1 

 do not reject fruits. About thirty species have beei 

 described. 



The Virginian Opossum (Didelphis Virginianus} was the earlies 

 known of the Marsupialia, and is one of the largest of the familj 



FIG. 402. VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM. 



It is about the size of a cat, covered with grey fur, thick and sofl 

 but of no value ; lives on trees throughout the whole United States 

 and is proverbial for its singular habit of counterfeiting death whei 

 alarmed. Another species, found in South America, called th< 

 Mouse Opossum (D. Murind] (Fig. 403), has the Marsupial poucl 

 imperfectly developed, to compensate for which the parent carriei 

 her young upon her back, where they better maintain their position 

 amidst the climbing and leaping movements of the mother, ty 

 twining their long, slender, and prehensile tails around hers. 



The Dasyuri (Dasyurusi) have the tail covered with long hairs 

 and not prehensile. They inhabit New Holland, and live on insect 



* 5<r, clis, double ; $\<f>vs, delphys, a womb. 

 f 8a<n';s, dasys, hairy \ ovpa, oura, a /a/7. 



