ORDER CARNASSIER. 



27 



tremity of the muzzle were naked. In general, the fur of 

 this animal was not thick, still it had some woolly hairs ; 

 few certainly, but well characterized. 



As the Opossum is met with in very variotis latitudes, 

 from the equator to a considerable degree of elevation, it 

 might serve as a tolerably sure guide in our observations re- 

 lative to the influence of temperature on the development of 

 these hairs. The skin of the soles of the feet, was of a violet- 

 black, and the toes as well as the nails were flesh-coloured^ 

 The external conch of the ear was also black, except at the 

 base and extremity, where a small flesh-coloured spot was 

 discernible. This would seem a pretty constant character 

 with the Opossums, since they have derived from it, the 

 epithet of bi-coloured ears. The extremities of the nose 

 and lips are also flesh-coloured, and the eye is totally 

 black. 



It might be deduced from the preceding observations, 

 that the organs of sense and motion in the Opossum are 

 endowed with no great degree of strength or activity. In 

 fact, the organs of this animal are in perfect harmony with 

 its character. The eyes small, and without external lids, 

 project so much that they seem like the extremity of an 

 ellipsis, and their pupil, like that of cats, is long, verti- 

 cally. The nostrils at the extremity of a long muzzle, 

 open on the sides of a protuberant, naked, and glandulous 

 surface. The sense of smelling is the most delicate in the 

 Opossum, and from which the animal derives most advan- 

 tage. The tongue is covered with very rough papillae. The 

 ears have the faculty of closing. They bend back, from 

 front to back, by means of three longitudinal folds, and 

 then are finally lowered by certain transverse folds, much 

 more numerous than the former, and which cut them at 

 right angles. The motion of both is doubtless determined 

 by some peculiar muscular apparatus. The sense of touch 

 seems to reside principally in the toes, which are covered 



