192 POUCHED MAMMALS 
tap on the head or back, and it stretches out, limp, motionless 
and seemingly quite dead. Its breath is so short and feeble 
the thick fur almost conceals the chest movement. 
When but a lad I killed my first Opossum in an Indiana 
forest, and had carried it by the tail for half a mile when we 
came to a rail fence. In climbing through, I noticed that the 
front claws of my Opossum caught on a rail and held fast in a 
manner highly unbecoming in an animal that was honestly 
and sincerely dead. A close examination revealed the fact 
that my victim was only nominally dead. In other words, it 
was fully alive and sharply watching for a chance to escape. 
This discovery led me to keep the animal alive in confinement, 
until finally it did escape. 
The Virginia Opossum is the species found in the United 
States, from New York to Florida, and westward through 
the southern states to Texas. In Mexico and _ tropical 
America several other species are found. Notwithstanding 
the persistent destruction of the Opossum, both for moonlight 
sport and for food, it still manages to survive throughout 
its entire original range, and bids fair to outlive the native 
American. The persistence with which the Opossum keeps 
up its numerical strength in the face of persecution is al- 
most beyond belief. In 1911 C. M. Lampson & Co. of 
London handled 1,011,824 skins of our friend the Virginia 
Opossum. ; 
As a pet, or cage animal, the Opossum shows off very poorly, 
and is rather uninteresting. In the daytime its sole desire 
is to curl up into a furry ball and sleep. If disturbed, it opens 
its pink mouth very widely, in silent protest, and as soon as 
