84 MAMMALIA. 



very peculiar physiognomy. They are fetid and nocturnal animals, whose 

 gait is slow; they remain on trees, and there pursue Birds, Insects, &c., 

 though not despising fruit. 



The females of certain species have a deep pouch in which are the 

 mammae, and in which they can enclose their young. 



Did. virginiana, Penn. (The Opossum. ) Almost the size of a Cat; fur, 

 a mixture of black and white; ears, one side black, and the other white; 

 head nearly all white. Inhabits all America; steals at night into villages; 

 attacks fowls, eats their eggs, &c. The young ones at birth, sometimes 

 sixteen in number, weigh only a grain each. Although blind and nearly 

 shapeless, they find the mammae by instinct, and adhere to them until they 

 have attained the size of a Mouse, which happens about the fiftieth day, at 

 which epoch they open their eyes. They continue to return to the pouch 

 till they are as large as Rats. 



Other species possess no pouch, having a mere vestige of it in a fold of 

 the skin on each side of the abdomen. They usually carry their young on 

 their backs, the tails of the latter being entwined around that of the 

 mother. 



Did. nudicauda, Geoff. (The Bare-tailed Opossum.) Fawn-coloured; 

 tail very long, and naked even at its base; two whitish spots over each eye, 

 one beneath. 



Finally, there is one known with palmated feet, which must be aquatic; 

 it is not ascertained whether it has a pouch or not — it is the 



Chibokectes, Illig.(l) 



Did. palmata, Geoff. Brown above, with three transverse grey bands, 

 interrupted in the middle, and white below; larger than a Norway Rat. 



All the other Marsupialia inhabit eastern countries. New Holland parti- 

 cularly, a land, whose animal population seems chiefly to belong to this 

 family. 



Thxiacinus, Temm.(2) 



The Thylacini are tlie largest of this first division. They are distin- 

 guished from the Opossums by the hind feet having no thumb ; a hairy, 

 non-prehensile tail, and two incisors less in each jaw; their molai's are of 

 the same number. They consequently have forty-six teeth; but the ex- 

 ternal edge of the three large ones is projecting and trenchant, almost 

 like the carnivorous tooth of a Dog; their ears are hairy, and of a medium 

 size. One species only is known, the 



Did. cynocepJiala, Harris. Size that of a Wolf, but stands lower; gfrey; 

 transverse black stripes on the crupper. It is very carnivorous, and pur- 

 fiues all small quadi'upeds. Ftom Van Dieman's Land. 



(1) Chinoredes, i. e. swimming with hands. 

 (3) Thylacinus, from flu^anoc purse. 



