80 NATURAL HISTORY. 



The length of the Great Kangaroo is about five feet without 

 the tail, the length of which is about three feet. 



There are many species of kangaroo, the most extraordinary 

 being the Tree Kangaroo, which can hop about on trees, and 

 has curved claws on its fore paws, like those of the sloth, to 

 enable it to hold on the branches. 



Several genera and two sub-families are omitted. 



Sub-family e. Didelphina. (Gr. A?f, double; 

 DIDELPIIYS. 



vc, a pouch.) 



Virginiana (Lat. belonging to Virginia), the Opossum. 



This animal inhabits North America, and is hunted with 

 almost as much perseverance as the racoon, not, however, for 

 the sake of its fur but of its flesh. When it perceives the 

 hunter, it lies still between the branches, but if disturbed from 

 its hiding place, it attempts to escape by dropping among the 

 herbage and creeping silently away. 



Its food consists of insects, birds, eggs, &c., and it is very 

 destructive among the hen-roosts. The OPOSSUM uses its tail 

 for climbing and swinging from branch to branch as the 

 spider monkeys use theirs ; but the Opossum uses its tail in 

 a manner that the monkeys have never yet been observed to 



