1 66 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XIV, 



occupying the whole of Florida, the lower coast region of 

 Georgia, and the low Gulf Coast belt as far as western Louisiana. 

 Specimens from the coast and interior of Texas, from about 

 Matagorda Bay northward, seem better referable to true D. 

 virginiana. 



Specimens examined : 

 Georgia : Riceboro, i ; Beaufort Co., 5. 

 Alabama : Sylacuga, 4 skulls. 

 Mississippi : Bay St. Louis, 3. 



Louisiana : Houma, i ; Lafayette, i skin and i adult skull. 

 Florida: G.ainesville, 2 ; Lake Harney, 4; Fort Kissimmee, 2 ; Kissimmee 

 River, 4 i black ; Little Marco, i ; Sebastian, i ; Key West, i. 

 Total, 26, and 5 additional skulls. 



Didelphis marsupialis Linn. 



Tlacuatzin, HERNANDEZ, Anim. Mex. 1651, 330. 



Didelphis marsupialis LINN. Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1758, 54. (By elimination 

 and restriction ; see antea, p. 164.). 



Didelphis californica BENNETT, P. Z. S. 1833, 40. Also of Baird and 

 others. 



Didelphis breviceps BENNETT, P. Z. S. 1833, 40. 



Didelphys pruinosa WAGNER, Suppl. Schreber's Saug. Ill, 1843,40 (foot- 

 note), and V, 1855, 224 (as a syn. of D. calij arnica}. 



Type locality. Mexico ; exact point not known. Valley of Mexico, by 

 restriction. 



Gray Phase. An outer long coat of white bristly overhair, 60 to 80 mm. long 

 over the middle of the back and on the rump ; beneath this a coat of soft long 

 underfur, white for about two thirds of its length, the apical portion black, the 

 long white overhair and the black outer zone of the underfur giving a dark 

 grizzled general effect. Cheeks pure white, with generally a whitish spot over 

 each eye, and a whitish area surrounding the base of the ears ; whole top of the 

 head and nose dusky brown, varying in intensity in different individuals, with a 

 blackish stripe running from the ear through the eye to the nose. Fore and 

 hind limbs black, including the feet except the nails, which are yellowish white; 

 upper part of the limbs more or less grizzled with long white overhair. Beneath 

 the pelage consists mainly of the soft underfur, which is much shorter and 

 thinner than on the upper surface, with the tips of the fur more or less tinged 

 with dusky, and with a few long bristly overhairs. Ears entirely black. Tail 

 black at the base, usually for one half or more of its length, the apical portion 

 flesh-color. 



Black Phase. Long bristly overhair black instead of white, beneath which is 

 the usual soft long underfur, white for its basal two thirds and tipped with 

 black. In other respects as in the gray phase. 



During the breeding season the pouch of the female is lined with fine, 



