THE OPOSSUM 



JHE opossum is certainly the most dis- 

 tinctive of the North American mammals, 

 inasmuch as it is a marsupial. It seems 

 rather strange that, among so many mammals, the 

 opossum has neither kith nor kin. There was a time 

 when the whole world was inhabited by marsupials, 

 so those living to-day are the separated remnants of 

 that once universal race. 



The range of the Virginia opossum is from the lati- 

 tude of the southern part of New York State and 

 Michigan, southward to Central America. It is very 

 common in the South, and probably there is only one 



