285 



OPOSSUMS. 



The opossums (Didelphis) , a genus peculiar to America, have 

 been the longest known of all the marsupial animals, of which 

 they are the only species existing beyond the pale of New 

 Holland, and the neighbouring Archipelagoes.* Mr. Bennett 

 observes of them, that " they seem to fill in the New World, 

 to a certain extent, the same station with the civets of the Old ; 

 for no species of this latter family has yet been discovered in 

 the Western Hemisphere. Like them they secrete a strongly 

 odoriferous fluid, pass the day in a state approaching to tor- 

 pidity, prowl abroad during the night, and prey upon birds and 

 the smaller mammals, frequently making the poultry-yard the 

 scene of their devastations, and sucking the blood of their victim 

 before gorging themselves upon its flesh. In the absence of more 

 noble game, they make prey even of reptiles and insects j and 

 fruits and other vegetal substances afford a common addition 

 to their varied diet.f But, unlike the civets, they live almost 

 entirely upon the trees, the peculiar conformation of their 

 hinder hands, and the prehensile character of their naked tail, 

 rendering them most admirable climbers. These tails are also 

 of essential service in another point of view : the little ones, 

 when frightened, leaping upon their mother's back, twisting 

 their tails round hers, and in this singular fashion escaping, 

 with her assistance, from the threatened danger. 



* What have been called the opossums of New Holland and Van Dieman's 

 Land, belong to other genera, as Chironectes, Thylacinus, Phascogale, Dasy- 

 urus, 8fc. 



f Mr. Ogilby reverses the case ; for he states " that it is only when wild 

 fruits fail in the woods that they betake themselves to animal diet." (Mag-. 

 Nat. Hist. (New Series, 1839), vol. iii. p. 340). Again, he says, they " feed 

 indifferently upon vegetal and animal substances, but prefer the former." 

 (Ibid. p. 342.) Who shall decide when doctors disagree ? 



