338 DIVISION I. VEKTEBF.AL ANIMALS. — CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



D. Brcviccps. — The sliort-headed opossum may be distinguished by tlie 

 shortness of the liead and tlie smaller size of tiie cars. There is also a very 

 dark-brown pateli on the lower part of the cheek. 



Z). (Jiiicfi. — The qiiica opossum is about twenty-seven inches long, 

 including the tail. The general color is deep ashy-gray, somewhat blackish 

 on the back. The species is common in Brazil, and is also found in Guiana 

 and Surinam. It lives on trees, says M. Temminck, and preys upon small 

 birds, and also feeds upon insects and fruits. In cai)tivity it has been fed 

 with Hcsii. During the daytime the quica, like the other species, hides 

 itself and sleeps, having its body rolled into a ball. 



D. OjxjssHiii. — This species, commonly called the Surinam opossum, is, 

 including the tail, about nineteen inches in length. The general color is a 

 rusty-red, with two white patches over the eye. It frequents Guiana and 

 Surinam. 



D. Xi(dic<iiahiAii. — A length of twenty-five inches, inclusive of the tail, 

 which is as long as the head and body taken together, and covered with 

 scales, and a yellowish-brown color above, and cream color below, are the 

 distinguishing marks of tiic naked-tailed o[)ossuni. The animal is found in 

 Brazil and Guiana. 



D. Lun'Kjerti. — The woolly opossum inhaliits Caazapa, Paraguay. Its 

 length, exclusive of the tail, is about eight inches, and the general color is 

 a bright brown. 



D. cvdKfladtdut'i, the thick-tailed opossum of Buenos Ayres, D. Phl- 

 l<ii)(hr, the I'hilander opossum of Surinam, and D. clncrea, the cinereous 

 opossum of Brazil, olfcr no particulars in their history of sufficient impor- 

 tance to be noticed here. 



I). Dorslgera. — INIcrian's Opossum. This animal is five inches long 

 from the nose to the root of the tail, and is of a grayish-lirown color. It 

 inhabits Surinam. The females Ikuc no pouch ; in its [ilai-e there is a fold 

 of the skin of the belly, which may be regarded as a rudimentary pouch. 

 The young, when sufiiciently old to lea\-c the teats to which they are at first 

 attached, are carried by tiie parent on her back, where they retain their 

 position liy means of their prehensile tails, which are entwined around that 

 of the mother. It is this habit of carrying the young on the back which 

 has gi\cn rise to the name Dorsh/pni. This name, however, might be 

 applied with as much propriety to several other species (such as D. cinc-rea, 

 miirinn, Iricolor, and bruclujura^ , in which there is only a rudimentary 

 pouch. 



D. MiiriiKi. — ]\Iurine Opossum. The length of head and body together 

 is five inches ; the general color of the upper parts of the body is of a 

 yellowish hue, as also that of the head. This species inhabits the northern 



