OF THE UNITED STATES 369 



ted upper part of the larynx projecting into the posterior nares, 

 and so maintaining a free communication between the lungs and 

 the external surface independently of the mouth and gullet, thus 

 averting the danger of suffocation while the milk is passing 

 down the latter passage." 



Our American opossum is chiefly found in the southern and 

 southwestern States, as far north as New Jersey and Pennsyl- 

 vania. It has also been found, I believe, in California, and they 

 are very abundant all over the State of Virginia, and, during the 

 proper season, a great many of them are exposed for sale, ready 

 dressed, in the markets of Washington, D. C. 



A year or more ago I was greatly indebted to Professor W. P. 

 Hay, who has charge of the biological department of the Central 

 High School of Washington, D. C., for the loan of an old female 

 opossum (D. virginiana) with her brood of young ones. To the 

 best of my recollection there were nine of these latter originally, 

 but when I received the animal she had only seven, they all hav- 

 ing been born about two months previous, and two had died 

 quite early in the career of the family. A large box was pre- 

 pared for her as a temporary habitation, one side of it being 

 covered by a coarse wire netting, and the bottom made comfort- 

 able by a generous layer of coarse sawdust. 



She fed somewhat sparingly upon raw flesh of various kinds, 

 and would drink about a pint of milk in the course of twenty- 

 four hours, her feeding being generally done at night. She did 

 not appear to be very solicitous of her young, and made barely 

 any resistance when one picked them up to be examined. Fre- 

 quently she would roll up partially into a ball, and then when a 

 young one was taken away from her she simply gave vent to a 

 kind of gutteral hiss, accompanied by a sluggish grin. 



Shortly after coming into my possession, she, through care- 

 lessness, I believe, killed another one of her brood, while one or 

 two more fell into the water or milk and were drowned; she 

 meanwhile not seeming to care very much, nor did she, appar- 

 ently, make any attempt to rescue them from their fate. Her 

 young ones, when fully as large as small rats, would nurse her 

 many times a day, sometimes three or four of them attaching 

 themselves to her teats at once ; sprawling over each other, being 

 in her pouch, partially in it, or just having the head within the 

 hairy margins of the entrance. 



I found these young opossums extremely difficult subjects to 



