49 s 



MERIAN'S OPOSSUM. 



capable of affording a firm hold, and thus secures itself against any unfortunate slip 

 of its paws. 



On the level ground its pace is slow, and its gait awkward. It is, however, seldom 

 seen upon the ground, as it is unwilling to forego the advantages of its arboreal resi- 

 dence, except for the purpose of obtaining food. Like the Virginian Opossum, it feeds 

 chiefly on animal food, such as the smaller mammalia, birds, reptiles, and insects, and 

 is so fond of Crustacea, that it has been called the Crab-eater from that predilection. 

 As the crabs and other crustaceans on which it feeds are usually found upon low and 

 marshy soils, the Crab-eating Opossum is in the habit of frequenting such localities, 

 and may generally be found in their neighborhood. 



This animal is held in some estimation, as furnishing an agreeable meal to those who 

 care for such diet, and its flesh is said by the initiated to resemble that of the hare. 

 The young of the Crab-eating Opossum are, during their days of infancy, colored very 

 differently from the adult animal. When first they are born, they are entirely naked, 

 but when they are large enough to leave the pouch, they are clothed with short silken 

 hairs of a bright chestnut brown, which, after awhile, fades into the dark brownish-black 

 of the full-grown animal. In all cases the tinting of the fur is rather variable. 



The Crab-eating Opossum is found very numerously in the Brazils, and is spread 

 over the whole of tropical America. 



V 



MERIAN'S OPOSSUM. Philander Dorsigerus. 



THE beautiful little animal which is so well depicted in the engraving affords another 

 instance of a marsupiated animal being devoid of a true pouch, 



In MERIAN'S OPOSSUM there is no true pouch, and the place of that curious struct- 

 ure is only indicated by a fold of skin, so that during the infancy of its young, the 

 mother is obliged to have recourse to that singular oastom which has gained for it the title 

 of " dorsigerus," or back-bearing. -At a very early age, the young Opossums are shifted 

 to the back of their mother, where they cling tightly to their mother's fur with their little 

 hand-like feet, and further secure themselves by twining their own tails round that of the 

 parent. The little group which is here given, was sketched from a stuffed specimen in 



