163 



ular group but one species belongs to the United States ; this is Didelphys 

 virginiana, the 'Possum, the only North American representative of the 

 family. 



Didelphys virginiana Shaw. 

 Opossum; 'Possum. 



1778. Didelphys mnrsnpialis, ^chreb., Saugt., iii, 1778. 



1800. Didelphys virginiana, Shaw, General Zoology, i, 1800,473, pi. cvii 



— Desm., Mamm., i, 1820, 265.— Harlan, F. A., 1825, 119.— Griff., 



Cuv., iii, 1827, 24.'— Temm., Mon. Mamm., i, 1828, 27.— Fischer, 



Syn., 1829, 263.— Wagner, Suppl. Schreb,, ii, 1841, 37.— DeKay, 



JSr. Y. Zool., i, 1842, 3, pi. xv, f. 2.— Waterhouse, N. H. Mamm. 



i, 1846, 165 — Bachman, Pr. A. N. S., 1848, 40 (development). 

 • Aud. & Bach., Quad. N. A., ii, 1851, 107, pi. Ixvi.— Giebel, Saugt., 



1855, 708.— Burmeister, Erlaut. Fauna Braziliens, 1856, 60, tab. 



V, vi, f. 1 and 3 (skull). — Jordan, Manual of the Vertebrates, 



1878, 35. 

 1833. Didelphys califarnicus, Bennett, Pr. Zool. Soc, i, 1833, 40 — Warner, 



Suppl. Schreb. iii, 1843, 40; ib., v. 1855, 228.— Waterhouse, N. 



H. Mamm., i, 1846, 476.— Aud. & Bach., Quad. N. A., 1854, 331. 



— Burm., Erlaut. Fauna Braziliens, 1856, 63. 

 1833. Didelphys breviceps, Bennett, Pr.Zool. Soc, i, 1833, 40. — Wagner, 



Suppl. Schreb., iii, 1843, 40; ib., v, 1855, 224.— Waterhouse, Nat. 



Hist. Mamm., i, 1846, 478— Aud. & Bach., Quad. N. A., iii, 



1854, 224. 

 1843. Didelphys pruinosa, Wagner, Suppl. Schreb. iii, 1843, 40 (note) ; ib. 



V, 1855.— Waterhouse, N. H. Mamm., i, 1846, 477. 

 Virginia Opossum, Penn., Quad., ii, 1781, 301 ; pi. xxxiv ; ib., Arctic 



Zool., i, 1784, 73. 

 Opossum, St. Hiiaire and Cuvier, Hist. Mamm., iii, 1819 (two 



plates.) 



Specific Chara'Cters.— -The Opossum averages twenty inches in length 

 from end of snout to root of tail ; the tail averages fourteen and one-half 

 inches; the head from end of muzzle to occiput is about five inches. The 

 body fur is interspersed with long white hairs. The hairs of the general 

 pelage are whitish, with brown tips, imparting a dusky shade. The legs 

 and feet are uniformly dark brown or black ; the fingers and toes are 

 white. The general color of the head is yellowish-white, the chin and 

 top of head being scarcely darker. There is a dusky suffusion around 

 the eye. 



The above are the characters which mark the Eastern form of the 

 Opossum. The Wpptern variety, or, pe^-hn^'- more prop-"1y, 5">07Ta,phi''al 



