49 6 



THE CRAB-EATING OPOSSUM. 



In forming an appropriate receptacle for her young, the Opossum is assisted by her 

 fore-feet, which are well adapted for digging. The nest itself is composed of long moss 

 and various dried leaves. Sometimes the creature has been known to usurp the domi- 

 cile of some other animal, not without suspicion of having previously devoured the 

 rightful owner. On one occasion a hunter sent a rifle-ball through a squirrel's nest, 

 which was placed at some forty feet from the ground, and was surprised to see an 

 Opossum fall dead on the ground. This creature has also been known to possess 

 itself of the warm nest of the Florida rat. 



When the young of the Opossum are born, they are transferred by the mother to her 

 cradle-pouch, where they remain for some weeks. From repeated experiments that 

 have been made on this animal, it is found that the transfer is made on the fifteenth 

 day after the young have been called into existence, and that at that period they only 

 weigh four grains, their total length being under an inch, the tail included. Their 

 number is from thirteen to fifteen. After they are placed in the pouch, their growth is 

 wonderfully rapid, for in seven days they have gained so much substance as to weigh 

 thirty grains ; and even at this early period of their existence their tails exhibit the 

 prehensile capacity, and are often found coiled round each other's bodies. In four 

 weeks the little Opossums have gained sufficient strength to put their heads out of the 

 pouch, and at the end of the fifth week they are able to leave it entirely for a short 

 time. 



Very great trouble was required in order to ascertain these particulars, as it was found 

 that the Opossum was in the habit of hiding herself in her den until she had placed 

 her young in the pouch, so that it was needful to search the cavity for these concealed 

 females, and to watch their proceedings by night and day without intermission. 



There are one or two circumstances in connection with this subject that are well 

 worthy of attention. 



The young Opossums are not, as has been often asserted, mere helpless lumps of 

 animated substances, without sense or power of determinate action, but are wonderfully 

 active in proportion to their minute size and their undeveloped state. If placed upon 

 a table, they can crawl about its surface, and are sufficiently hardy to retain life for 

 several hours after their removal from the warm cradle in which their tender bodies 

 were shielded from harm, and the maternal fount which poured a constant stream of 

 nourishment into their tiny systems. 



Another singular circumstance is, that when they are first placed in the pouch, they 

 are blind and deaf, the eyes and ears being closed, and not opened until many days 

 have elapsed. With partial blindness at the time of birth we are all familiar in the 

 persons of kittens, puppies, and other little animals, but that the tender young of the 

 Opossum should be deaf as well as blind, is truly singular. It appears that in the case 

 of the kitten or puppy, the presence of light and the action of the atmosphere are 

 needed in order to withdraw the obstacles that obstruct the sense of vision. In the 

 young Opossum, however, it seems that the action of the atmosphere is needed in order 

 to render the ears sensitive to the sounds that are transmitted through its mediumship, 

 but that in most cases the little creature requires the absence of light until the time 

 comes for it to open its eyes as well as its ears. 



What length of time elapses between the period of transmission into the pouch and 

 the several opening of eyes and ears is not, I believe, as yet clearly ascertained, and 

 would furnish an interesting subject for investigation. I would also suggest that the 

 blood of the young animal be carefully examined in three of its stages, viz. just before 

 it is born, immediately after being placed in the pouch, and after the period when the 

 eyes and ears are opened, in order to ascertain whether any important change, chemical 

 or otherwise, has been made in that liquid by the double action of air and light. 



The CRAB-EATING OPOSSUM is not so large an animal as the Virginian Opossum, being 

 only thirty or thirty-one inches in total length, the head and body measuring sixteen 

 inches, and the tail fifteen. It can also be distinguished from the preceding animal by 

 the darker hue of its fur, the attenuated head, and the uniformly colored ears, which 

 are generally black, but are sometimes of a yellowish tint. 



