@irRe O “sis PLe™M. 73 
HIST: QUAD, Genxnvws XX. ~ OPOSSUM, 
Hi. Quad, N° 181. 
wy POSSUM. ‘With ten cutting teeth above, eight beneath: 74 Virginian, 
eyes black, fimall, and lively: ears large, naked, membranace- 
‘ous, and rounded: face long and pointed; whifkers on each fide of 
the nofe, and tufts of long hairs over the eyes: legs are fhort ; the 
thumb on the hind feet has a flat nail, the reft of the toes have on 
them fharp talons: the body is fhort, round, and thick: the tail 
long; the bafe is covered with hair for three inches, the reft is co- 
vered with fmall fcales, and has the difeufting refemblance of a 
Snake. 
Qn the lower part of the belly of the female is a large pouch, in 
which the teats are placed, and in which the young lodge as foon as 
they are born. ‘The body is cloathed with very long foft hairs, ly- 
ing ufually uneven: the color appears of a dirty white; the lower 
parts‘of the hairs dufky: and above each eye is a whitifh fpot: the 
belly tinged with yellow. 
The length of one I examined was feventeen inches, of the tail 
fourteen. 
This fpecies is found as far north as Cenada*, where the French Pace. 
call it Le Rat de bois ; from thence it extends fouthward, even to the 
Brafils and Peru. The fingularity of the ventral pouch of the fe- 
male, and the manner of its bringing up its young, places it among 
the moft wonderful animals of the new continent. 
As foon as the female finds herfelf near the time of bringing forth, 
fhe prepares a neft of coarfe grafs, covered with long pieces of 
fticks, near four feet high and five in diameter, confufedly put to- 
* Charlevoix, V. 197. 
L gether, 
