a5 
around a slender support, even when that support is nearly parallel 
with the axis of the tail itself. When not in use it is carried 
bent under at the tip in the shape of an interrogation-point. 
The agility and serpent-like flexibility of the opossum is illus- 
trated by the process of regaining a support to which it is at- 
micned by ats tail. It is thus described by Coues: “It bends the 
neck and shoulders strongly forward, reaches upward with its fore 
paws until it can catch hold of the loosely hanging hind feet; further 
action of all four extremities carries the paws to the root of the tail, 
which is firmly grasped, when the animal climbs up its tail ‘hand 
over hand’ until the point of support is laid hold of, after which by 
a peculiar squirming motion of the whole body the desired altitude 
is attained.” 
The opossum’s habit of feigning death when attacked is well 
known, and ‘‘playing possum”’ has become a proverbial expression. 
Though this peculiarity has been often studied, there seems to be as 
yet no uniformity of belief among scientists as to how far the act is 
a conscious and deliberate one and how far an involuntary cataleptic 
or hypnotic trance due to fear. Certain it is that however advan- 
tageous the peculiarity may sometimes be, at other times it is as 
surely a disadvantage. 
In captivity the opossum is an uninteresting pet, sleeping during 
the day and feeding mostly at night. When disturbed it shows its 
resentment by a hiss and a lazy, grin-like baring of the teeth. 
HOOFED ANIMALS. 
UNGUILAT A. 
AMERICAN ELK. 
Cervus canadensts (Erxleben). 
Cervus elaphus canadensis Erxl., Syst. Regn. Anim., I., 1777, p. 305. 
Elaphus canadensis Ray, Kennicott, in Trans. Ill. State Agr. Soc., I., 1853-54, 
p. 580. 
Kennicott says that several elks were shot in Cook county and 
that an elk was killed near Mt. Carmel in 1830. I have not been 
able to obtain any proof that one was ever seen by the settlers in 
this county. Elks have been long extinct throughout the state. 
